Meddling Kids: Flim Flam's Gang
by Ellis97
Summary: When a young orphan boy gives up hope on ever being adopted by a family, he escapes the orphanage with his two best friends and they set out to live a life of scams and rebelling against the tyranny of adults. When Flim-Flam, their leader causes an unexpected chain of reactions between the human world and the supernatural world, they must right what they have done.
1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

 **Well folks, here it the big surprise I teased in the previous story. This is the kick off to season three! It is a prologue to a future arc that some of you must know quite well.**

 **And now ladies and gentlemen, Ellis97 and** **wsdsrdbw4096 proudly present...**

 **FLIM FLAM'S GANG!**

* * *

Our story begins on a dark and stormy night in some kind of city. A woman carries a basket in her arms, frantically running away from something or someone.

As the thunder roared in the background, she continued to pant and looked over her shoulder as she ran on.

It was then that she came to some sort of building with a sign on it. She knocked on the door frantically, hoping someone would answer before the people she was running from got to her.

As the minutes went by, though, there was no response from the occupants of the building. The woman continued to knock on the door frantically, turned her head back to see if the people she was running from is getting close.

Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps come from the other side of the door. Before the door was opened, the people captured her and took her to some undisclosed location. In the ensuring struggle, she left the basket behind at the doorstep of the building.

As soon as the woman had been taken away, the door opened to reveal a woman. She wondered who was knocking at the hour when all of a sudden, she heard a noise coming from the basket on the doorstep.

Looking down at the basket, she unveiled the blanket, revealing a small bundle of joy. The baby was sleeping and sniffling in his sleep, unaware of what was going on. The woman then took the baby into the building, which had a sign that read, "ORPHANAGE."

* * *

We then cut to around eight years later, where we see the orphanage kids in the living room together, watching television.

The room was a little crowded and some of the kids were trying to find a way to get into and have a good view of the television.

"Out of the way! Down in front!" The boys shouted as they struggled.

One of the boys, a mop topped Latino boy got pushed off the couch and fell onto another kid's block tower.

"Hey!" The kid building the block tower exclaimed as the mop topped kid fell on it.

"Sorry." the mop topped kid shrugged.

The boy started crying. "Waaahhh...hahaha..."

Just then, the orphanage director, Lou Strickland stomped over to the living room.

"What is it now?!" He barked.

The crying boy pointed at the mop topped kid. "Fernando...did it..."

"Mr. Rodriguez, I should've guessed you were behind this!" Strickland stomped over to the boy. "You are the biggest troublemaker who has ever set foot in this orphanage!"

All the other kids moved out of the way as Strickland stormed his way to the mop topped boy.

"It was an accident." Fernando folded his arms.

"No excuses! Go to the box right now, mister or no TV privileges for any of you!" Strickland ordered the boy.

"Fine!" Fernando pouted.

Fernando pouted and walked to an empty cardboard box in the corner of Strickland's office. He grumbled under his breath as Strickland returned to his desk.

"I hope you boys can learn something from Mr. Rodriguez here." Strickland told the other boys. "Now go get yourselves dressed! You've got candy to sell!"

"Yes Mr. Strickland." said the boys.

Strickland huffed before turning back to his desk.

* * *

Much later, it was time to go out and sell candy.

"Alright boys! Time to go sell some candy!" Strickland said before turning to a spiky-haired Asian boy. "Mr. Chang! Go get your friend, Mr. Rodriguez out of the box!"

"Yes Mr. Strickland" the boy nodded.

The two boys then joined the others as they lined up to get their supply of candy.

"I hate Strickland, Logan." Fernando angrily said. "He's such a jerk!"

"Hopefully selling some candy will have Strickland forgive you, Fernando." Logan said.

"That is if we make any sales this time." Fernando remarked.

"Yeah, you're telling me." Logan nodded.

The two boys went to the first house and rang the doorbell. A man came out of the house.

"Yes?" said the man.

"Hello sir, we're from the local orphanage and we were wondering if you would like to buy some candy." said Logan.

"Yeah right! I ain't buying that scam!" the man angrily slammed the door in the boys' faces.

"Gee, that certainly was a success." Logan rolled his eyes.

"You're telling me." Fernando folded his arms.

The boys walked to another house. They still didn't make a sale. Every house they went had turned them down, either because they thought it was a scam, had diabetes, or were just plain crabby. Fernando and Logan sat down on a bench, feeling real down in the mouth.

"Well, it looks like Strickland is gonna take away our TV privileges again." Logan remarked.

"Why did I have to end up this crummy orphanage? I hate it!" Fernando mumbled. "At least tomorrow is Adoption Day, maybe I will get adopted."

"I wouldn't really get our hopes up..." Logan sighed.

Fernando grunted and didn't say another word.

* * *

The very next day, it was Adoption Day. All the boys were gussied up for hopes of finally getting a home and family. Sadly though, the potential parents only seemed to eye the younger kids, as opposed to the older ones.

There were mostly frowns from Fernando and his group as a small number of prospective parents did take the time to take a look at them.

"I ain't getting adopted, none of us are." Fernando sighed. "We're like dogs, and everyone will just want the puppies. Come on guys, let's go."

The boys sadly walked outside to the playground to sulk.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well folks, it's Flim Flam's introduction story, and it couldn't have come at a better time either, cause he is back in the next DTV film! In said film, we are finally going to see who the last two ghosts are, which means we will not being seeing the ghosts from the Boomerland stories in this series. So stay tuned for more chapters in Flim Flam's big epic story and for Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the 13th Ghost coming in 2019! Stay tuned!**


	2. The First Flim Flam

Several weeks has passed since Adoption Day, and nothing much has changed for Fernando and his gang.

They were sitting outside on the orphanage picnic table, feeling hopeless.

"This is just great, no one will ever want me." Fernando sighed, irritated.

"Don't feel bad, buddy." said Logan. "I mean, maybe your destiny is right here at the orphanage and you don't even know it?"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Fernando deadpanned.

At Fernando's deadpan, Logan's face flushed red.

"Uh...that was a poor choice of words." He said.

Just then, a truck arrived at the front of the building.

"Well at least we're in luck." said Logan. "The charity donations truck is here. Maybe we will get some nice new stuff."

"That is, if Strickland didn't hoard all of the stuff." Fernando grumbled.

"Well I have a plan this time!" said Logan. "What if we take the box before he does? That way, he won't be able to take it from us, cause he'll never know it came!"

"No that won't work..." said Fernando. "But what if we take the box before he does? That way, he won't be able to take it from us, cause he'll never know it came!"

"Of course." Logan rolled his eyes. "Thought you never say."

1"Now all we need is a plan to get them." said Fernando. "We can grab the box, but we need somebody to distract Strickland while we get it. After all, I can't carry that box on my own."

"But who?" asked Logan.

"Well, what we need someone who is naïve and willing to obey what we say." said Fernando. "Like, one of the younger kids."

"Sounds reasonable." Logan nodded thoughtfully. "Who do you have in mind?"

Fernando turned his eyes to a 5-year-old little boy with blonde hair and glasses doodling with some sidewalk chalk on the ground.

"Pierre?" Logan raised an eyebrow.

"Of course!" Fernando folded his arms. "He's always trying to make us put him in our club and play with him, so it only makes sense to have him as our pawn."

"If you say so." Logan shrugged.

The two boys walked over to Pierre to put their plan in motion.

"Oh Pierre..." Fernando sang.

Pierre turned around. "Oh. Hello Fernando. Hello Logan. Do you want to play tiddlywinks or draw with me?"

"No. But we do want you to play one of our games." Fernando said. "If you do what we say, we might let you into our club."

"Oh goody!" Pierre jumped for joy and giddily clapped his hands. "What is this game called? And how do you play?"

"Well, it's called..." Logan shared looks with Fernando as he paused briefly.

"Give and Take!" Fernando exclaimed.

"How do you play?" asked Pierre.

"Okay, so you see..." Logan began, though he wasn't exactly sure how to continue.

Fernando managed to notice the look of uncertainty on Logan's face and quickly cut in.

"It is pretty simple!" said Fernando. "You have to give a lovely performance to Mr. Strickland while we take something from his office! If you perform for him long enough to avoid us getting caught, you win!"

"Sounds like fun." Pierre remarked as he nodded thoughtfully.

"It is fun." Fernando smirked. "Now let's play."

"Hooray!" Pierre cheered.

* * *

The three boys went back inside and saw Strickland doing something on his desk.

Strickland was busy reading some accounting figures on his desk, and the frown on his face tells them that it's no happy matter.

"Hello, Mr. Strickland." Pierre happily said to the orphanage director.

"What do you want?" Strickland said rudely. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I noticed that." Pierre replied. "Which is why I think you need to take a break and see what I've got."

Strickland took off his reading glasses and glared at the boy. "Is that right? In that case, what have you got?"

"I have a lovely song and dance to cheer you up!" Pierre smiled.

"I don't have time to see you sing and dance! I'm too busy admiring myself!" Strickland barked.

"Please..." Pierre begged.

"Oh fine..." Strickland sighed. "But make it snappy!"

"Oh yes I will sir." Pierre jumped for joy.

Strickland grunted as he turned his full attention to Pierre, which was a cue for Fernando and Logan to act.

While Pierre was distracting Strickland, the duo pushed the donation box past the office, hoping that Strickland wouldn't spot them.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Logan whispered to his friend.

"Of course." Fernando whispered. "My plan is perfect! Nothing can go wrong. Once we get this past Strickland, the other boys are gonna love us."

"If you say so." Logan shrugged. "In any way, let's hurry up before Strickland gets bored."

Fernando nodded as they kept pushing the donation box, passing by the office door as they went.

Pierre kept singing. "...so turn that frown, upside-"

"Alright, I've had enough!" Strickland barked. "Stop that singing and get out of my office this instant, or its the timeout box for you, Mr. Monroe!"

"Uh...yes sir." Pierre said meekly.

He ran away and went into the bedroom, where the other boys were gathered up to see something that Fernando and Logan were showing.

"Hola folks! Fernando Joaquin Diaz Rodriguez is the name and making y'all happy is my game!" Fernando boasted. "Boy, do you ever feel lonely? Do you ever want something new in your life? We'll have I gotten something for you! Logan, the curtain!"

Logan took a blanket off something and revealed the donation box they took from Strickland.

"Ooh..." said the other boys.

"How did you guys managed it?" One of the other boys asked.

"It's called a boy's intuition." Fernando smirked. "Now, who wants some new stuff?"

The boys all cheered and raised their hands.

"Good! Now line up if you do!" Fernando added.

The boys all lined up in front of Fernando, Logan, and the box.

"Alright, here goes." Logan smiled as everyone lined up in front of them and the box.

Fernando opened up the box and inside were stuffed toys and clothes for everyone.

"But it's not gonna be that easy..." Fernando smirked. "First, you guys have to give me, Fernando, something in return."

"But we don't have any money." said one of the boys. "What could we possibly give you?"

"Yeah." Another boy added. "What do you want from us?"

Fernando thought. "How about all your biscuits at snack time and giving me your turns for the TV on Saturday?"

The boys shared looks with each other, then one by one, they reluctantly nodded.

"Now that's more like it." Fernando smirked. "But only one item per person. If you want more things, you have to pay extra."

The other boys all groaned.

* * *

Over the next couple of days, Fernando, Logan, and Pierre were sitting on the couch watching TV and eating everyone's biscuits.

"This is the life, Loggie." Fernando told his friend. "Just lying down, watching Space Ghost, and eating delicious chocolate biscuits. Maybe when the next shipment comes, I can get them to do my homework."

"But what if we get caught?" asked Pierre.

"What could happen?" Fernando scoffed.

"You know what could happen if we get carried away, Fernando." Logan said.

"Yeah! Mr. Strickland will send us to bed with no dinner." said Pierre.

"Or he'll put us in the Box of Shame for the rest of our lives." Logan added.

"That big dope doesn't know anything, and we are going to keep it that way!" Fernando said as he ate another biscuit. "We'll just keep giving him the old flim-flam!"

"I hope you're right." Logan said. "Because sooner or later, that goat's gonna get wise to our racket."

"Logan's right." Pierre nodded. "We should never underestimate that man's intelligence."

* * *

The very next day, the new donations arrived at the home. Fernando and his gang knew this was time for another scam.

"Alright guys, the next shipment is here." He said. "Strickland is in the bathroom. Pierre, you keep him trapped in there while we bring the stuff inside."

"But how do I do that?" asked Pierre.

"Hmmm..." Logan and Fernando shared looks with each other.

A moment later, the boys went to the front door of the bathroom and put a bunch of boxes in front of it to prevent Strickland from getting out.

"There! That's ought to hold him." Fernando folded his arms.

"You sure, Fernando?" asked Logan.

"Of course." said Fernando. "As long as that those boxes and chairs hold him off, nothing can go wrong."

"I hope so too." Logan said.

The boys went upstairs to show the other boys the new stuff.

"Okay boys! Our new shipment has arrived!" Fernando boasted. "Now step right up and take your pick. All it'll cost you are all of your TV turns and chocolate biscuits. But if you want more than one item, you have to do my homework all week in addition to the previous two things!"

There was some frustrated grumbles from the crowd of boys as they shared looks with each other.

"What's with the long faces? Don't you guys want some cool new used stuff?" Fernando asked the grumbling boys.

"We do, but the price you're asking for is too much for us!" One of the boys grumbled.

"Yeah!" Another agreed. "We wanna watch TV!"

"Oh really? Well then I guess I'll just have to keep all this nice stuff for myself then." Fernando smirked.

"Sure, go ahead and keep 'em!" A third boy said. "When Strickland finds out, you're the one who's gonna be in trouble, not us!"

"Oh please, that old bat doesn't know anything." Fernando scoffed.

Just then, the door slammed open. It was a furious Strickland with toilet paper on his foot.

Seeing Strickland standing at the doorway huffing and puffing, Logan turned to Fernando, "You were saying?"

"You..." Strickland growler and pointed at Fernando. "My office...now!"

The other boys shared looks with each other.

"Busted." One of them hissed.

Strickland grabbed Fernando by the ear and took him to his office for a very unfriendly confrontation. He threw the boy on his desk while looking at him with a very menacing glare.

"So...I see everybody has been getting some new stuff lately...pretty weird, huh?" Strickland glared. "You don't suppose you know how they got them or how I could've possibly been locked in the bathroom, right?"

Fernando gulped. "Well, I uh...you see..."

"Yes?" Strickland's glare got more deadly.

As Strickland interrogated Fernando in his office, all the boys gathered by the door to listen in.

"Boy, Mr. Strickland sure seems pretty angry about Fernando selling all that stuff." Pierre whispered to Logan.

"Yeah, I wonder what they'll do to him?" Logan whispered back.

"Maybe he'll make him eat dirt." said one of the boys.

"Or maybe he'll have him clean the floors with his own toothbrush." said another boy.

"Either way, Fernando's not gonna be resting easy in the next while." Pierre remarked.

* * *

Back inside, Strickland was still interrogating the 8-year-old troublemaker.

"You know Mr. Rodriguez, when I first started directing this orphanage when my father-in-law retired, I knew you were something...special." Strickland quietly chuckled, then snapped. "This is no game, little boy! I have ways of punishing you that are worse than the Box of Shame! THIS...IS...NO...GAME!"

Fernando sank deep into his chair with fear.

"Now, what were you doing with that little box?" Strickland softly, but menacingly asked again.

Fernando swallowed as he stared blankly at Mr. Strickland.

"Well...I just figured the other boys could use some nice new stuff..." Fernando meekly explained. "That's all..."

Strickland snorted as he continued to glare at Fernando.

"People like you disgust me, Rodriguez!" Strickland spat. "And do you know what I do to people like you?"

Fernando shook his head timidly.

"I make sure they learn their lessons the hard way!" Strickland said as he grabbed a wooden paddle from his desk.

Seeing the paddle, Fernando swallowed.

* * *

Outside of the room, the sounds of painful yelping and spanking were all that was heard from the fear-stricken boys.

Pierre sniffled and buried his face into Logan's chest, who gently rubbed his back.

A short while later, Fernando emerged from the office rubbing his bottom while Strickland tossed the paddle back onto his desk.

"That oughta teach you rebellious swine!" Strickland barked.

Fernando sniffled. "Yes, sir..."

"And the same goes for the rest of ya!" Strickland pointed to the other boys. "If the rest of any of you even THINK about questioning me, you will get what Mr. Rodriguez here got! Capisce?"

The other boys nodded their heads in shame and then walked away. Fernando stayed silent for the rest of the day after what had happened.

* * *

That night, when the boys all went to bed, the other boys looked at Fernando with such great concern.

"Gee, Fernando sure has been quiet since Strickland punished him..." Logan remarked.

"Yeah, I hope he's okay." said another other boy.

"I wonder what he's thinking about?" Pierre added.

"Not sure if I wanna know." A fourth boy remarked.

After a while, Fernando stood up from his bed and went to the center of the room with a stern look on his face.

"We're busting outta here!" He boldly said.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **You heard it here, folks! Fernando is going to bust all his buddies out of this prison! But how will he pull that off? Will he convince his friends to go through with it? Stay tuned!**


	3. The Great Escape

The very next day, Fernando called all the boys for a secret meeting in the orphanage attic. Logan and Pierre were sitting next to him on a box that Fernando was using a podium.

"Okay everyone! This meeting is now in session!" He said.

All the boys kept talking to each other, not listening to what their "leader" had to say.

Seeing that no one was paying any attention to him, Fernando cleared his throat loudly.

"Guys..." He repeated, burn no one responded.

Frustrated, he picked up a megaphone and spoke into it.

"LISTEN UP!" He shouted.

This caused everyone to quickly fall silent and finally pay attention.

"Thank you." Fernando smiled.

Putting down the megaphone, he then looked at everyone in attendance.

"You're probably wondering why I've called you here today..." He began.

"No...not really..." the other kids shook their heads.

"It's because of that rotten, no-good director, Lou Strickland!" Fernando continued. "He's made us sell candy...Spanked us with paddles...sit in corner boxes and yelled at us for no reason! Well now it is time to take a stand! We are getting out of this orphanage once and for all!"

There was some murmurs from the other boys when he made that declaration.

"But we cant leave the orphanage! There could be some parents out there who want to adopt us." said Pierre.

"And what if there aren't? Do you want to spend the rest of your life taking orders from some ugly old man and selling candy door-to-door for nothing?!" Fernando asked.

The boys shared looks with each other at the question.

"I thought so!" Fernando slammed his fist. "It's time for us to stop living in fear and take a stand! It's time for a new era! First thing's first; due to my newly acquired scamming ambitions, I shall go by, 'Flim-Flam' now! I am no longer Fernando!"

"Kinda clever." Pierre remarked.

"Now, we need to get out of this dump!" Flim-Flam added.

"And how are we going to get out of this dump?" Logan asked.

Flim-Flam was dumbstruck. "Uh...I'm gonna have to get back to you on that part."

Logan slapped his forehead in annoyance.

Why am I not surprised." He sighed as he facepalmed.

The boys murmured amongst each other as Flim Flam tried to think of something.

"It's not like we could try sneaking out in the middle of the night while Strickland is sleeping." said Pierre.

Flim Flam continued to think, "Wait! I've got it! We could try sneaking out in the middle of the night while Strickland is sleeping!"

"That's exactly what I was suggesting." Pierre rolled his eyes.

"Zip it, buddy." Flim ignored Pierre. "Boys, It's time to pack up our toothbrushes and jammies! We are getting out of this dump!"

* * *

Fast forward to that night, the whole orphanage was still.

Strickland was snoring away in his bed, completely unaware of what the boys were about to do that night.

Inside the bedroom, the boys had all packed up their bags.

"Okay, is everyone all packed up?" Flim Flam whispered.

Everyone held up their bags to showcase that they've finished packing.

"Good, now lets hightail it outta here!" Flim whispered.

He opened the window and threw a rope made from tied up sheets down.

"Okay everyone, one by one!" said the boy. "Come on, vamos!"

Everyone nodded as they began following Flim out the window.

One-by-one, they all got out of the window, snuck out of the orphanage grounds and hid in an alley.

Their timing couldn't have been better, for at the moment the last boy sneaked out of the window, Strickland had a craving for a midnight snack like he always does.

He got out of his room and went to the kitchen to get a snack, not even knowing that the whole orphanage had left the home.

"Stupid kids..." he mumbled. "Always driving me insane and making me ruin my perfect figure by eating me out of house and home..."

He then prepared himself a small sandwich and started eating, during which he thought that the orphanage seemed quieter than usual.

"They're sleeping..." He thought. "Weird..."

He went back upstairs to his room and back to sleep.

* * *

Back in the alley, Flim Flam had the boys gather up for another meeting.

"Okay guys, we've successfully snuck out of that brick walled prison!" He said.

"But what do we do now, Flim-Flam?" asked Pierre.

"It's the beginning of our new lives, boys." Flim said confidentially. "To the park!"

Flim Flam led the boys to the park a few blocks away. There were some yawns from the crowd of boys as they made their way to the park. When they finally arrived at the park, they felt exhausted from the walking and the nighttime.

"Okay gang, this is where we will be staying for the night." said Flim Flam. "After that, we'll move into the woods outside of town and build a house of our own."

"But how are we going to do that, Flim?" Logan yawned. "And what about food and water?"

"We're just gonna have to sleep on that, Loggie boy." Flim Flam yawned as he curled up and fell asleep on the park bench.

The other boys shared looks with each other, shrugged, and one by one, they each managed to find a place to sleep on.

* * *

The very next morning, the sun rose, waking up the boys with it's rays. As soon as everybody stretched, cleaned their teeth, and woke up, their self-proclaimed leader gathered them up on a tree for a meeting.

"Okay boys, I hope you had a good night sleep, cause you'll need your energy for today!" Flim Flam told them.

"Can we do the meeting later? I'm hungry..." Pierre whined.

"Me too." Another boy added. "Did anyone bring snacks?"

"Well..." Flim Flam was about to continue when their stomachs began to growl simultaneously.

"You didn't bring snacks, did you?" Logan deadpanned.

Flim hung his head down. "No."

"Well this is just great! Now what are we going to do about food and water?" Logan glared at his best friend. "We don't have any money to buy any, so how are we gonna eat?"

Flim Flam sighed as he pondered on what to do next.

* * *

Back at the orphanage, Strickland had woken up from his infernal slumber, ready to wake up the boys.

"Time to wake up those little twerps." He grumbled as he walked to the boys' bedroom.


	4. Boos in the Woods

Back at the park, the boys were still fuming about the lack of food.

"Okay, 'fearless leader', what are we going to do for food?" Logan asked Flim Flam.

"I've got a perfect idea!" Flim snapped his fingers. "We are going to make people give us their food!"

"How?" asked Baxter, one of the boys.

"Simple: we'll give them the old Flim-Flam." Flim said confidentially.

"But what does that even mean?" asked Baxter.

"Watch." Flim winked.

Flim Flam saw a couple walking in the park with a picnic basket and walked up to them.

"Howdy folks! Is that a picnic basket you're carrying there?" He asked them.

"Um, yes. It is." the man said awkwardly.

"And whatcha got in it?" Flim added.

"Roast beef sandwiches, cupcakes, and lemonade." said the man.

"Now that's too bad." Flim Flam shook his head.

"Why?" asked the man.

The boys shared looks with each other as they watched Flim.

"Well did you know that recently, the Food and Drug Administration has discovered that those foods give you a bad case of Blubberitis?" Flim said.

"Blubberitis? What's that?" the woman asked.

"It's an infectious virus that can cause stomach cramps, and the symptoms are similar to that of the stomach flu, but worse." Flim quickly said.

"How worse?" asked the woman.

Flim whispered into the couple's ears with some shocking "effects" from Blubberitis.

They gasped. "Oh my goodness!"

"Yep." Flim Flam nodded. "It's a sad fact. Tell you what: why don't you two give me that picnic basket and I'll throw it away for you."

"Of course, of course." The man replied. "Don't wanna get infected by the bug, you know."

"Good!" Flim grabbed the basket of food. "Now allow me to go dispose of this contaminated food, properly and humanely."

Flim Flam quickly ran back to his gang with the basket in his hand.

"Hook, line, and sinker." He smirked.

The boys, eying the picnic basket in his hands, gathered around him.

"Okay boys, dig in!" Flim said as he handed everyone a cupcake, a sandwich, and a cup of lemonade.

The boys started happily eating their food.

"That's the old Flim Flam!" Flim boasted.

The boys all nodded as they dig in.

"I'm glad you guys are enjoying this delicious food." Flim said as he ate his sandwich. "We are gonna need our strength and energy for when we go into the woods to build our new house."

The boys all nodded as they chewed on their food.

* * *

Back in his office, Strickland was about to dial his phone when he saw a van pull up at the orphanage driveway.

"About time they showed up." He grumbled to himself.

He went outside and saw a black truck in front of the orphanage that said, "POOKAJEE TECH." Out came a delivery man.

"Mr. Strickland, such a pleasure to see you." said the man.

"Yeah sure, whatever." said Strickland. "Now, are they ready?"

"Yes sir, the Maharajah sent his finest just like you said." the delivery man nodded.

Just then, the back door of the truck opened up and out came five giant robot policemen.

"Well, then." Strickland rubbed his hands. "I'm sure you guys got some demonstrations, eh?"

"Of course, sir." The delivery man nodded. "Allow me."

"This I gotta see." said Strickland.

"Robots, apprehend that man over there." said the delivery man.

"Apprehend! Apprehend!" The robots chanted.

The robo-cops walked up to the man, grabbed him, and brought him back to Strickland and the delivery man.

"Works just fine." said the delivery man.

"Not to mention fast." Strickland smiled before adding, "Okay, robots. You can release the man."

The robots released the man, who then ran away in fear of seeing Strickland's bots again.

"As you can see, the Maharajah made sure these robots were up to your expectations." said the delivery man.

"Of course! You can trick a person, but you can't trick technology." said Strickland. "Robots! Front and center!"

The robots stood before Strickland in a well timed line.

"What is it you ask of us, master?" asked the robots.

Strickland raised a finger as he headed into his office. "Give me one minute."

As quick as a fox, the orphanage director returned with a file containing photos of the orphans.

"All eight orphans have escaped into town," Strickland handed them the file. "I want you to retrieve them and bring them back! Do not screw this up, or you will pay!"

Taking the file, the robot cops all saluted.

"Yes, right away." They chanted.

Strickland started chuckling evilly as the robots left.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the park, Flim Flam and the gang finished eating and had a nice rest in the sun.

"That was the best meal I've had in years, Flim." said Jamal.

"I know, Jamal." Flim Flam yawned.

"Refreshing if I do say so myself." Grunt added.

"Especially with someone of your girth, Grunt." Flim Flam chuckled.

"Anyways, what should we do in the meantime?" Pierre asked.

"What we need to do is go into the woods and search for where we are going to build our new home." Flim Flam said. "After all, we can't stay out in the park forever."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Logan asked. "We should get moving now."

"The sooner, the better." Flim Flam proclaimed. "Come on boys, let's go go go!"

The boys all picked up their suitcases and headed to the woods.

In no time did they found some clearing in the middle of the woods that was a suitable place for their house.

Dec 20"We did it boys! We've found the perfect place for our new house!" said Flim.

"Dios mio!" Miguel said as he looked at the beautiful sight.

"Wow." Logan remarked at the sight in front of them.

"It's marvelous." Baxter added.

"By my count, the house should be able to support all eight of us." Jamal added.

"And the best part is, we built this house and don't have to pay rent." Tug remarked.

"Now that we've gotten acquainted with this clearing, let's build our new home!" Flim Flam proclaimed.

"Just one problem, Chief." Grunt interrupted. "Where are we going to get the building materials?"

"Hmmm..." Flim paused his lips.

As he was thinking, the scene shifts to a couple blocks away on the other end of the forest, where we see a giant mansion that looks haunted.

* * *

Inside the mansion, there were five girls reading books together, but these weren't any ordinary girls, they were monsters: a vampire, a reanimated corpse, a mummy, a werewolf, and a ghost girl, to be exact.

The vampire flipped a page and then sighed, "This is how we vampires are represented nowadays? Unbelievable. Why would we produce glitter beams in the sun and marry werewolves?"

"Monster perception sure has changed, Sibella." the ghost remarked.

"Yeah, and I'm not sure if it's for the better, Phantasma." Sibella added.

"I just wish there would be more books and movies about mummies." the mummy girl remarked.

"Too bad for you, Tanis." said the werewolf girl.

Just then, a robust woman in a pink dress came downstairs.

"Hello girls..." she said in a sing-song voice.

"Hello Miss. Grimwood..." the monster girls said in unison.

"Put your books down, cause it's time to go outside for volleyball practice." said Miss. Grimwood.

The girls all nodded as they put their books down and followed their teacher out of the classroom.

* * *

They went outside to the back of the mansion to play, where they met up with three other monster girls.

"Okay ghouls, are you ready to play?" asked Miss. Grimwood.

"Hooray!" The ghouls cheered.

"Good. Now all we need is a ball." said Miss. Grimwood. "Matches! My ball please!"

They all hear a growl and turning to its source, they spotted a small green fire-breathing dragon walking towards them with the ball in its mouth.

"Thank you, Matches." Miss. Grimwood said as she took the ball from the dragon. "Now, we need captains for the teams. Elsa, Sibella. You're the captains."

"How delightful..." Sibella sighed dreamily.

"Oh goody!" Elsa cheered.

The girls then walked onto the volleyball court and took their positions.

"Okay girls, now assign your teammates." said Miss. Grimwood.

Sibella thought. "I'll take...um...Winnie!"

"Alright! You hear that girls? The star player has arrived! AROOOO!" Winnie howled.

"And I'll take, um, Tanis." Elsa said.

"Yippie skippy!" Tanis cheered as she skipped over to Elsa.

"And I'll have Phantasma." Sibella pointed to the ghost girl.

Phantasma giggled as she floated over th Sibella.

There were three ghouls left; a Godzilla-like monster girl, an alien, and a girl who looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

"I'll take...Godzina!" Elsa pointed to the lizard girl.

"Whoopee!" Godzina slithered over to Elsa.

"And I'll have Goonie!" Sibella pointed to the sea monster.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Goonie clapped as she splashed her flippers over to the young vampire.

"And I guess that leaves Mary with me." Elsa pointed to the alien girl.

"Oh, this is gonna be a lot of fun!" Mary hissed excitedly as she joined Elsa.

"Okay everyone! Take your positions!" Miss. Grimwood blew a whistle.

The two teams all lined up face-to-face.

"Now who is going to serve first?" asked Sibella.

"We could try flipping for it." suggested Elsa.

"Terrific idea!" Winnie howled as she did a front flip over the net.

Miss Grimwood held the ball ready.

"Okay girls, ready?" She tossed the ball to Sibella.

"We are ready!" The ghouls cheered.

"Then let's play ball!" their witch teacher blew her whistle.

Sibella smiled as she tossed the ball into the air and prepared to strike it.

"Going up!" She exclaimed.

She leaped into the air and transformed into a purple bat. Then, she smacked the ball with her wing.

The ball flew right over the net, leading to Mary to move quick to launch a counter strike.

"Heads up!" She hissed as she managed to strike the ball, leading it to rebound into the air and back into Sibella's area.

"I've got it!" Winnie howled.

The young werewolf jumped up into the air and smacked the ball so hard, that it flew right out of the schoolgrounds and into the woods.

"Winnie, that's the third ball this week." said Phantasma.

The girls sighed as they turned towards the woods.

* * *

Back in the woods, the boys were still thinking of what to do when they saw a volleyball bouncing into the area.

"Look guys! A ball!" Pierre pointed to the ball.

"Let's play with it, Pierre!" said Baxter.

Baxter and Pierre started playing catch with the ball.

"How random." Jamal remarked.

Some of the other boys soon joined in to play with the ball.

While the boys started playing, Logan and Flim Flam were discussing about their current situation.

"So Flim, any idea on how we are going to get building material for our new house?" Logan questioned his leader.

"I honestly wouldn't know, not unless we decide to cut down the trees and use the wood to build our new house." Flim Flam frowned.

"And we'll need some furniture to install as well." Logan added.

"Maybe we can create a fake charity or go to the nearest junkyard?" Flim suggested.

Before Logan could respond, they heard some rustling coming from the nearby bushes in the woods.

"Huh? What's that?" He turned around to the bushes.

While he and Flim approached the bushes, the others kept playing with the ball.

"Catch, Pierre!" Grunt exclaimed as he tossed the ball towards Pierre.

"I got it! I got it!" Pierre said as he raised his arms and backed away as he chased the ball.

Pierre continued to run backwards as the ball flew towards him.

Finally, the ball landed right in his hands. Apparently, Grunt's large growth also makes him a hard thrower, so when Pierre caught the ball, he fell down right onto the ground.

"Boy Grunt, you sure can pack a wallop with that arm of yours." Miguel laughed.

"Uh...thanks?" Grunt raised an eyebrow.

"Oh boy." Pierre remarked as he walked back to the other boys.

The other boys laughed as the bespectacled boy walked to them.

"Hey guys! Come and play with us!" Tug called out to Flim and Logan. "Grunt's really throwing like a pro!"

Flim and Logan, however, were absorbed in checking out the sound of the rustling in the bushes and didn't hear what Tug was saying.

"Where do you think that noise came from?" Flim asked his right hand man.

"Let's take a closer look." Logan said.

The boys started crawling through the bushes to figure out what was going on. When they got to the other side, they saw the monster girls.

"Zowie! Look at that!" Flim whispered as he saw the ghouls. "Halloween must be coming early this year. Look at those girls in the costumes."

"They sure are pretty realistic." Logan remarked.

The two boys then saw one of the ghouls floating right through a tree.

Their jaws dropped at the very sight of that.

"Holy Toledo..." Flim Flam gasped. "Either that lemonade is making me see things or that was a real ghost!"

Logan was equally speechless, and the two boys shared looks with each other.

They were so shocked and speechless in fact, that they fainted right onto the ground.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well folks, there you have it! The Grimwood Ghouls are in this story! In case you're wondering who the other three monsters are, they're the ones seen at the end of "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School." Get ready for some real thrill.**


	5. The Haunted House

It didn't take long for the boys to notice that Flim Flam and Logan had passed out.

"Hey guys! Guys! Wake up!" Baxter shook them. "Guys!"

Flim and Logan remained on the ground motionless.

Jamal began slapping the duo around. "Come on! Come on guys wake up!"

Flim and Logan were still asleep.

"I've got an idea!" Grunt said as he zoomed over to the nearby creek and came back with a bucket of water.

"Grunt, what are you doing?" asked Miguel.

"Watch." Grunt replied before splashing the bucket of water onto Flim and Logan's faces.

The splash of water caused the dynamic duo to wake up.

"Ugh..." Logan spit some water out of his mouth. "What's going on here? And why are we all wet?"

"Finally, you guys are awake." said Pierre.

"Yeah." Jamal nodded. "So care to explain what exactly happened that led to you guys laying on the ground like a pile of lumber?"

Flim and Logan shared looks with each other before the former said, "You guys wouldn't believe us if we tell you."

"Try us." Grunt replied as he put down the bucket.

Flim-Flam breathed in deeply. "Okay...Well, Logan and I heard something behind the bushes and we wanted to see what it was, so we took a peek and saw this girl flying in the air. Then, she went right through a tree, like a ghost or something."

"It's official; you guys have gone totally bonkers." Tug deadpanned. "My momma always taught me that there are no such things as ghosts."

"No way indeed." Grunt agreed.

"I guess." said Logan. "Maybe our eyes are just playing tricks on us."

"Maybe." Flim got up.

"Hey guys, look!" Jamal pointed to something right near the bushes.

The boys turned to where Jamal was pointing; it was a spooky old house.

"Zowie! Look at that!" Flim Flam exclaimed. "It's some kind of old house and it looks abandoned. Maybe we could live there instead."

"I don't think we should, buddy." Logan said. "It looks kind of spooky and dangerous."

"I sure don't like the looks of it either." Pierre nodded.

You guys are just a bunch of fraidy cats." Flim Flam folded his arms. "Come on! Let's go see this place."

The boys shrugged, picked up their bags, and followed their fearless leader inside the house.

* * *

Meanwhile, near the park, Strickland's robotic minions wasted no time trying to track down the boys.

They went to the park and analyzed the ground with their scanners and the blacklight from them caused the boys' footprints to appear. Without missing a beat, the robots quickly followed the footprints before encounter thick bus and trees.

"Statement: Obstacles in the way." said the head robot.

"Response: Activate buzzsaws!" said another robot.

The robots' hands then converted into buzzsaws and they started to eliminate the bushes.

Soon, the robots had cleared a path forward for them to continue to track down the boys. After walking down, they found the place where the boys were planning to build their house. Using his transparent rays, the head robot saw the boys going into the old mansion.

"Statement: Target acquired! Must report to Strickland!" He said to his fellow robots.

"Straight away." One of the robots reported back.

* * *

Back at the orphanage, Strickland was sitting in a tub of bubbling mud, when all of a sudden, something popped up on his screen; it was the image of the robots.

"How dare you interrupt my daily mud bath!" He barked. "What is it?"

"We've located the boys." The robot at the other end reported. "We'd thought you would wanna know."

"Good! Now bring them back at once!" Strickland ordered. "And make sure they're alive too!"

"Yes Mr. Strickland." The robots said before ending the transmission and heading towards the manor.

* * *

Meanwhile, the boys had entered the manor after crossing the drawbridge that led over the moat.

"Here we are boys, our potential new home." said Flim Flam.

"Gee, it looks kind of old and creepy." Pierre gulped.

"Nonsense," Flim brushed his friend off. "We can fix it up with a little nails, wood, and paint. Now come on, let's take a look around."

The boys then started to walk around the house to see what they had stumbled upon.

"This place looks like a living room." Flim said as they entered the first room and noticed the old television set at the corner.

"A really old living room if you ask me." Logan deadpanned.

"I wonder if Frankenstein Jr and the Impossibles is on?" Miguel wondered as he tried to turn on the old TV.

"Come on Miguel." Tug grabbed his friend's arm. "We have a lot more rooms to look at."

The boys continued into the second room, which looked like some kind of creepy old kitchen.

"Gee, this is some creepy old kitchen." Baxter remarked.

"I wonder if there's some good food in here, I'm hungry." Grunt rubbed his stomach.

"Dude, you're always hungry." Logan deadpanned.

"Let's see now..." Flim said as he continued led the way

He opened up the fridge and saw some food, but it didn't look like anything that could be edible to them.

"Fried Moonbeams...yuck." Flim muttered before moving to the next one. "Pickled Vampire Wings...double yuck...Werewolf Snacks...triple yuck!"

"That is definitely not on my menu." Jamal remarked.

"Looks fine to me." said Grunt.

Flim looked at the food. "What blockhead could possibly eat this slop? Some kind of witch?"

"I don't know if I wanna know." Logan remarked.

"Well, let's have a look upstairs and see if there are any bedrooms we can sleep in." said Tug. "My legs are killing me."

The boys went upstairs to look for some bedrooms. Most of the doors looked alike, they couldn't tell which was which.

"Most of these doors look alike, I can't tell which is which." Grunt scratched his head.

"Silly Grunt, you can't tell right from left." Baxter snickered.

Grunt scoffed but didn't say another word as they walked down the hallway.

The boys tried different rooms in the hallway, each different from the other. One had flying books, one had a narrow bridge, one had a man eating piano, one had scary Venus fly traps, and one was even filled with potions and spells.

"Maybe a witch really does live here." said Pierre.

Logan looked at the scary paintings on the wall. "Is anyone else finding these paintings odd, or is that just me?"

"Well, considering what we may have seen earlier, Logan, I won't be surprised if those paintings are really odd." Flim said as joined Logan in looking at the paintings on the wall

They went to the last room, where they saw two sets of bunk beds and a regular bed all alone.

Looking around, the boys didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Well, maybe this room should do just fine." Logan remarked before looking up to the ceiling and added, "That is, once we give this place a good dusting, because I'm sure no one wanna end up with spiders on their foreheads while they sleep."

"Yeah, those things give me the heebie bajeebies." Jamal remarked.

"Come on guys, let's hit the sack!" Flim Flam said as he jumped on the single bed.

The other boys nodded as they all followed suit in finding suitable places to lay down.

Tug and Jamal climbed onto the first set of bunk beds, while Miguel and Grunt climbed into the second set. Unfortunately, there weren't any beds left for Logan, Baxter, and Pierre.

"What about us? Where are we supposed to sleep?!" Logan asked, referring to him and the little guys.

"Try finding a couch or something." Flim yawned before getting to sleep. "Now leave me alone. I'm gonna take a nap."

The other boys followed suit and fell asleep. Logan glared at Flim for not caring about his and the youngsters' predicament.

"Come on guys, let's go downstairs and see if there's a couch we can sleep on." Logan told Pierre and Baxter.

The trio walked downstairs to look for a couch.

"Who does that guy think he is? I'm his right hand man! I deserve as much a place to sleep as he does..." Logan mumbled underneath his breath.

* * *

At that same time, the ghouls had managed to find the ball in the woods.

"There's our ball." Sibella said as she picked it up. "Honestly Winnie, I do wish you'd be less competitive and not lose our equipment all the time."

"Sorry, I just can't help myself." Winnie shrugged.

The ghouls then made their way back to the school after picking up the ball.

"We'd better get cleaned up, Miss Grimwood wants us ready for supper when she comes back from her potion shopping." said Elsa.

The girls entered the house, when they heard something.

"Ghouls, do you hear something?" Winnie asked as she heard the noise.

"Not really." said Tanis.

"I definitely had heard something." Sibella said.

"It's coming from down the hallway." Elsa pointes to the living room. "Come on."

The ghouls walked down the hallways, looking for the source of the sound.

"Maybe it's just Matches playing a silly game?" Tanis innocently wondered.

"It couldn't be. He's having his scales shined right now." Elsa said.

"Then who could it be?" Tanis asked.

* * *

On the other side of the hallway, Logan and the little guys were still looking for a place to rest.

"Cocky, egotistical, unsympathetic, Latino jerk..." Logan mumbled as he held Baxter and Pierre's hands. "That spoiled brat is always brushing me off..."

It was clear that Logan had some words in his mind that one would never utter while in front of the little guys, and he was trying his best to keep those words from escaping from his mouth.

"Gee, I've never seen Logan so upset." Pierre told Baxter with a worried face.

Baxter mumbled, though their attention was soon drawn to several footsteps from down the hallway.

"Guys, quiet. I hear someone coming." Logan whispered to his fellow orphans.

Pierre and Baxter listened and heard the footsteps as well.

"Maybe it's the others?" suggested Pierre.

"Shhh." Logan shushed them as the footsteps got closer.

The footsteps got closer and closer, until the boys finally were able to see where they had come from.

It came from a group of girls ahead of them, though there was something unusual about them.

"Hey look! It's a group of five freaky-looking girls in Halloween costumes!" Baxter pointed to the girls.

* * *

At that same time, the girls spotted the boys.

"Look over there, it's three human boys!" Phantasma pointed to the boys.

"Ah yes, three human boys..." Sibella nodded, then realized something.

"They're pretty cute too." Elsa remarked as she saw the boys.

"Very handsome." Sibella stared lovingly at them.

The ghouls looked at the boys with awestruck faces, when all of sudden, they realized something.

"Human boys?!" They gasped.

There was dead silence between the five.

"What's with those girls? They look like they've seen a ghost or something." Baxter whispered to his friends.

"I don't know why, but we'd better tell the others about this." Logan whispered back. "Let's go."

The boys left the hallway and ran upstairs to tell their friends about what they saw.

"Oh no! Those boys are going upstairs! We've gotta get them out of here before Grimwood gets back!" Sibella panicked.

The ghouls followed the boys upstairs to stop them from getting them exposed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **It looks like our boys have been caught red-handed by the ghouls and Strickland's robots have tracked them down. Can they try to find themselves out of this predicament? Stay tuned and find out!**


	6. Boos and Bots

Logan and the two youngsters didn't waste any time getting back to the bedroom.

"Guys! Guys! Wake up!" He panicked.

"Go away Logan, I'm busy..." Flim Flam ignored him.

"You have to see this, Flim." Logan persisted.

"See what?" asked his esteemed leader.

"There are five girls dressed in some really good monster costumes." said Baxter. "You guys have to come see!"

"Monster costumes?" Flim exclaimed as he sat up from his bed, alert now before turning to Logan and added, "Like the ones we saw earlier?"

"Something like that." Logan shrugged.

"Come on gang!" Flim Flam said to the other boys. "Let's go check them out!"

The other guys got up from their sleeping positions and walked with Flim, Logan, and the little guys to see the ghouls.

* * *

At that same time, the robot cops have located the abandoned manor in the middle of the woods.

They walked to the door and activated their see-through vision to check if their targets were inside.

Scanning around the manor, the robots soon found their targets standing on the hallway of the second floor, along with a trio of unknown figures.

"Statement: Target acquired!" said the head robot. "Seize them with extreme prejudice!"

The robots started approaching the trio of figures, ready to bring them back to the orphanage.

* * *

Meanwhile, the ghouls were still stunned by what they had saw earlier.

"What are we going to do, ghouls?" Sibella asked her fellow monster girls.

"I don't know, but Grimwood is gonna be angry that there are humans in the school." Elsa stammered. "She'll turn us into toads for sure!"

"Not to mention, those boys will most likely tell others and we will be exposed to all of humanity." Phantasma added. "We need to think of a way to keep them from talking."

"Maybe you should try using your vampire hypnosis powers to erase their memories of us, Sibella." suggested Tanis.

"Silly Tanis, I don't believe that will work well." said Sibella. "But what if I use my vampire hypnosis powers to erase their memories of us?"

Before the other ghouls could comment on the matter, they all hear some noisy racket coming from downstairs.

"Guys, there's some noise downstairs." said Winnie.

"Hopefully, it isn't Miss Grimwood." Elsa remarked. "We'd better go downstairs and make sure of that."

The ghouls ran downstairs, where they saw Strickland's police-bots looking for the boys.

"Now what are those?" Tanis asked in surprise.

"I don't know, but they certainly don't look very friendly." Sibella remarked.

"I think they're robots, ghouls." said Elsa.

"Robots? What are those?" Tanis asked Elsa.

"They're some kind of metal men with wires and gears and stuff." Elsa explained. "My father used to see them all the time in the lab he was created in."

"And what exactly are those robots doing here?" Sibella asked.

"Could it have something to do with those human kids we saw earlier?" Elsa asked.

"It might as well." said Phantasma. "They must have sent them here to kidnap us!"

"Those rotten no good scoundrels!" Winnie growled.

"What do we do, Bella?" Tanis asked Sibella as she wrapped her arms around the young vampire's legs.

Sibella smiled. "We'll show those robots what we can do to them."

* * *

Meanwhile, Logan had led Flim-Flam and the others down the hallway to where they had encountered the ghouls earlier.

"Okay buddy, where are these 'girls' you told me about?" the young Latino asked.

"They should be around here somewhere..." said Logan.

Just then, they heard some noise from downstairs.

"Holy Toledo! What's all that racket?" said Flim Flam.

"I think it came from downstairs!" Logan said. "Come on!"

The boys ran downstairs to see what on Earth was going on.

When they arrived, they all stopped dead in their tracks.

"Holy Toledo!" Pierre remarked.

"As I live and breath." Flim added.

It was the ghouls fighting against the police bots with everything they had.

"Robots? Girls in costumes? This day just keeps getting freakier." Baxter remarked.

"But what could a bunch of robots be doing here?" Flim Flam wondered.

"Beats me." Logan shrugged.

"Hey, wait! I think I remember something," said Jamal. "Back at the orphanage, I found plans for some kind of robot policeman on Strickland's desk!"

"And if I recall, when I first came to the home, he said he doesn't hire other staff members for the home because people mess up all the time, but machines never do." Pierre added.

"Do you think he might have something to do with these robots?" asked Miguel.

"I sure as heck hope not, guys." Flim said before they turned towards the fight and added, "Though knowing that greedy old goat, I won't be surprised if he really had something to do with those robots."

"Well we've gotta do something about these tin cans!" said Logan.

Just then, the police bots stopped attacking the ghouls, when they saw the boys.

"Statement: Targets acquired." said the head robot. "Seize subjects and bring back to Master Strickland."

"That figures." Logan remarked. "Strickland's behind all of this after all."

The robots then started approaching the boys with vigor, who then proceeded to run away from them, leading to a huge chase.

"Hey! Those robots are chasing those boys!" Winnie exclaimed. "What's going on? I thought they were trying to steal us!"

"Not anymore." Sibella said. "Looks like those boys are their targets all along."

"Should we help them?" asked Winnie.

"I honestly don't know." Sibella remarked, only for them to pause when they heard a suit of armor getting knocked over by the robots. "Though if Miss Grimwood sees this mess, those boys are going to be the least of our worries."

"We'd better clean up." Elsa said. "Those robots will take care of the boys."

"But they look so terrified." Tanis said timidly.

"And how would we know for sure that the robots can take care of the boys without causing more mess?" Winnie added.

"I see you are right, maybe we should help them..." said Sibella.

"That's the spirit!" Phantasma laughed. "Get it? Spirit? Cause I'm a ghost and well..."

"Yes, we get it." Sibella deadpanned.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Winnie asked. "We should get moving before those robots cause more trouble in here, and then Miss Grimwood's for sure gonna have a fit."

The ghouls flew and ran right after the robots, whom had chased the boys right downstairs to the cellar.

"You know, I'm starting to think those nuns Strickland fired years ago aren't so bad compared to these robots!" Flim Flam said as he, Logan, and Pierre hid behind a sarcophagus.

"Yeah, these things just won't give up!" Logan added.

"Well what are we gonna do?" Pierre asked. "We can't hide forever!"

"Yeah, we gotta do something." Grunt added.

"I've got an idea!" Tug said as he dug into the box and found some ancient artifacts. "Maybe we can toss some of these strange spooky Halloween decorations at them!"

"That's ridiculous, Tug!" said Flim Flam. "But perhaps we can toss some of these strange, spooky Halloween decorations at them!"

"Well, I'm sure those robots are strong enough that those decorations would simply bounce off them, Flim." Logan deadpanned.

"Yeah, so maybe we should try something else?" Tug questioned.

Before Flim could respond, they heard a loud crash coming from where the robots were at.

"Halt! You strange contraptions!" a voice boasted.

It was the Grimwood Ghouls, ready to help the boys.

"Really? That's the best you could come up with?" Winnie placed her hands on her hips.

"Hey! This is new to me!" Sibella retorted.

The robots turned around and saw the ghouls.

"Query: Who dares to intervene with our mission to Master Strickland?" stated the head robot.

"When you cause a huge mess in this manor, you've got our furies to deal with." Sibella replied.

"Yeah! So you'd better stop picking on those boys, if you bolt buckets know what's good for ya!" Winnie growled.

"Statement: Destroy meddlers!" said the head robot.

"Well then I guess we have no choice..." said Sibella. "Ready ghouls?"

"Ready!" said the ghouls.

The Grimwood Ghouls and the police bots charged right towards each other and a huge battle ensued.

What followed was a large dust cloud as the battle went underway. Using their wings, fangs, claws, Egyptian jewels, intangibility, and strength, the ghouls were able to fight against the bots.

To make a long story short, they triumphed in battle. In fact, they managed to destroy one of the robots.

"Statement: Soldier down!" said one of the robots.

"Statement: Retreat!" panicked the head robot.

The robots all retreated from the school and headed back to Strickland to inform him of what happened.

"Wowsers! That was amazing!" Flim Flam exclaimed as he got up from behind the box.

The ghouls then turned towards the boxes as the boys emerged from their hiding spot.

Why thank you, it took years of training to perfect." Sibella put her hands on her hips.

"And I gotta say that's some nice Halloween costumes you girls are wearing." Logan added.

"Yeah, they're so realistic, that I'd say that you were real monsters." Grunt remarked.

The ghouls shared looks with each other, and then chuckled, causing the boys to get confused.

"What's so funny?" asked Jamal.

"Was it something we just said?" Flim asked.

The ghouls continued chuckling before they turned towards the boys.

"Oh boy, you boys sure don't know, huh?" Phantasma giggled.

"Don't know what?" Logan asked, the boys more confused than ever.

Tanis giggled, "That we are actually real ghouls and monsters."

Flim and the boys shared looks with each other in confusion.

"What?" They asked.

"We're for real." Sibella said simply. "I know you guys may have heard and dismissed legends about the likes of Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Werewolf or the Mummy, but I can assure you boys that we are as real as the ground we're all standing on."

The boys' jaws dropped in disbelief. They couldn't believe what they saw before their very eyes.

Tanis giggled. "You boys are so silly."

Flim Flam and Logan shared looks with each other.

"Please tell me that all of this is just a dream..." Logan said.

"It wasn't the lemonade we just had..." Tug said.

Then, the boys all passed out.

"Looks like I won't have to erase their memories after all." Sibella remarked as she saw them fainted. "Come on! Let's

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hopefully, the boys will not remember a thing about seeing the ghouls and they will take care of them before Miss. Grimwood comes back. Stay tuned!**


	7. Army Shack

Meanwhile, Strickland was bewildered when the robot cops enter his office without the boys.

"What on Earth?!" He roared as the robots entered his office. "Where are the boys?!"

"We are sorry, Master, but we couldn't capture them." said the head bot.

"What?!" Strickland snapped. "What the heck are you talking about?! You're supposed to be state of the art hunting machines! I want them back now!"

"We could do that, unless you want to lose another one of us." The head robot replied.

"Well, how on earth could that had happened?" Strickland demanded.

"Let us show you, sir." the head bot turned on a monitor on his chest.

The monitor played footage of the Grimwood Ghouls attacking the robots with their supernatural abilities.

Strickland narrowed his eyes as he watched the footage, then he looked up at the head robot.

"Is this meant to depress me, or is this some kind of a joke?" He demanded.

"No sir, this is no joke!" the head robots insisted. "We are programmed for complete honesty. It would seem that these girls possess strange powers beyond human comprehension."

Strickland put on his reading glasses to take another good look at the footage, "It can't be! Those girls are...not human! They're monsters! Impossible!"

"Oh it is very possible, master." said one of the bots.

Strickland narrowed his eyes, "Either this is the result of the coffee I had this morning, or it's for real."

"We are afraid it is real." said another bot. "And we have reason to believe that these girls are trying to protect the boys."

Strickland took another look at the footage, and then he said, "You don't say..."

"We do say." said the robots.

"Policebots! Forget those brats!" Strickland grinned evilly. "We have bigger fish to fry!"

"I'm sure we do." The head robot said. "What do you propose?"

"You'll see..." Strickland said as he picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Is this HB News? Get me Heather Jasper Howls. I have a little something she may like..."

Strickland then started laughing maniacally.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the manor, the boys were still out cold.

"Now that they're out cold, this is our perfect chance to send them back to wherever they came from before our maestro comes back." said Elsa.

"Well put, my dear Elsa." Sibella said. "Let us make haste."

The ghouls then one by one picked up the boys and prepared to head out.

"They look so cute when they're unconscious." Sibella looked lovingly at Logan's sleeping face as she carried him.

"They sure are." Winnie agreed.

"But we need to get them outta here." Tanis said. "Miss Grimwood will be back any minute."

"The little pipsqueak is right." Winnie nodded. "Come on, ghouls!"

The ghouls headed outside and into the woods.

"Okay, now where should we put them?" Sibella wondered.

"Hmmm..." The ghouls pondered as they looked around.

"How about over in that old shack?" Elsa pointed to an old abandoned shack.

"Excellent idea, Elsa dear." Sibella said. "Come dear ghouls. We have no time to waste."

"Good, because these boys are getting very heavy." Tanis said as she and Winnie tried to hold onto Grunt.

One by one, the ghouls carried the boys over to the old shack.

One by one, they each gently put the boys onto the floor.

"Awww they're so cute when they're sleeping." Phantasma batted her eyelashes.

"Now come on, let's back to school." Sibella whispered.

The other ghouls nodded and headed out of the shack.

"Night night." Tanis whispered.

She quickly kissed the boys goodnight and followed her classmates back to school.

* * *

No sooner did the ghouls returned into the school did Miss Grimwood make a return.

"Oh girls...I'm back..." She called out to her students.

"We're coming, Miss Grimwood!" Elsa called out.

The ghouls all headed downstairs for dinner with their headmistress.

When they got to the dining room, the octopus butler was finishing setting the table.

The ghouls all set down to the table and started to eat.

"Alright ghouls, now have you been brushing up on your work?" Miss. Grimwood asked the ghouls.

"Of course, Miss. Grimwood." Sibella said. "We live and breathe scare studies."

"Good." Miss. Grimwood nodded. "Because tomorrow night is our midterm exam and homecoming night, at which you're mummies and daddies will be attending to see if you'll be moving on in my academy."

The ghouls murmured and nodded.

"Oh..." Tanis sighed.

"What's wrong, Tanny?" Winnie asked as she wolfed down her meal (pun intended). "You look worse than Phanty when she found out the Phantom of the Opera was married."

"My mummy and daddy are coming tomorrow, and I haven't won a single trophy for my sarcopha...sarcaph...my mummy case."

The other ghouls shared looks with each other.

"Awww, don't feel so glum, Tanny." said Elsa. "My folks have never won a single trophy in the Monster Road Race and they're okay with it."

"But you don't understand, I need to win an award if I want to stay here at the academy or else my mummy and daddy will take me back home to Egypt." Tanis said as her eyes started to tear up. "I love this school. I don't wanna go home. Well, not yet at least."

"Your parents are expecting you to win an award, Tanis?" Sibella asked.

"Yes..." Tanis sobbed. "They want me to honor our mummy family name and they thought I'd improve if I went to this school. But I haven't made any progress and when they find out, they'll get really mad and I'll never see you guys again."

She started to cry into her wrapped hands.

As Sibella moved to place her hand on Tanis' back, the other girls shared looks with each other in concern.

"Oh poor Tanis..." Winnie said as her ears drooped.

"What are we gonna do?" Elsa asked her friends. "If she doesn't have a trophy, we'll never see her again."

"And there is no time to earn one before the exams tomorrow." Phantasma added. "There has to be some way to convince her parents to let her stay."

The ghouls all nodded thoughtfully as they watched Sibella comforting Tanis.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the old shack, the boys woke up from their fainting.

"Oh..." Flim groaned as he stretched his arms.

"What happened?" Logan wondered. "Where are we?"

"And more importantly, why is Grunt on my back?" Baxter tried to get off from underneath Grunt.

"I don't know." Flim groaned as he looked around. "Though we seem to be in a shack of sorts..."

"How do you know it's a shack?" Logan asked Flim.

"Because I'm your leader and I know everything, that's how!" Flim Flam retorted.

"Then I reckon you have an explanation on how we came to end up in here." Pierre piped up.

"Of course I do!" Flim Flam folded. "We...um...uh...well, you see..."

"So much for our fearless leader." Logan deadpanned.

The other boys all rolled their eyes in agreement.

"Well, from the looks of things, this might as well be our new home." Tug remarked.

"Yeah, it's small, but it will have to do." Miguel said.

"I wonder why this place is so empty and abandoned." wondered Logan.

"Beats me." Grunt shrugged.

The boys wandered around the shack, looking at all the stuff that was scattered around.

Jamal then saw something, "Hey! Look at this guys!"

Baxter, Grunt, and Logan saw what Jamal was talking about; it was a photo of a man in a military outfit and a long mustache.

"Jeepers! Who is that guy?" Baxter remarked. "He looks like that D-ick Dastardly guy in a military uniform."

The others gathered around him and took a closer look at the photo.

"Look! There's some sort of writing on it!" Tug pointed to a gold plated oval with something written on it.

"Allow me to look at it!" Flim Flam boasted. "As your leader, I am the one who has to figure these out."

"Ugh!" Logan rolled his eyes.

He grabbed the picture and squinted his eyes to read the inscription, "C...c...col...col...uh..."

"Well, what does it say, oh fearless leader?" Logan smirked.

"Well...uh..." Flim shuddered as he tried to read. "..uh...colon..."

"So much for being our fearless leader." Pierre remarked.

"Hey! I know what I'm doing!" Flim Flam snapped, then went back to the photo. "Colon...colon...uh...uh..."

"Give me that!" Logan snatched the photo from Flim. "It says, 'Colonel Calloway!'"

"Um...uh...I knew it that! I was just testing you!" Flim Flam said, out of pride.

"Sure you did!" Logan retorted. "Just like you knew how we were gonna get food and water or how we were supposed to build shelter in the middle of the woods!"

"Well, I..." Flim tried to retort, only for Logan to cut him off again.

"I think this must be the guy who used to live here in this shack and apparently, all of this stuff belongs to him." Logan said as he looked at the medals, trophies and photos on the shelf.

"And from the looks of things, I'd say he was quite the solider." Jamal said as he looked at a picture.

"I wonder why he has a shack in the middle of nowhere..." Miguel wondered. "Seems beyond loco to do that."

"Good question." Grunt nodded thoughtfully as they looked around the shack.

"Well his loss is our gain." said Flim Flam. "This place is as good as ours."

"Gee 'boss', that's a great idea, but there's one problem with that." Logan said. "What are we gonna do about food and water? And how are all eight of us going to sleep in this tiny shack?"

"Yeah." Grunt agreed. "In fact, it's only gonna be a matter a time before everyone gets wise by your tricks and then what?"

"Just give them the old Flim-Flam." Flim Flam smirked. "It always works."

"How can you possibly think you're qualified to be a leader?" Tug added. "I'm the oldest! I should be leader! Not some spoiled eight-year-old jerk with height issues!"

"Yeah!" Baxter agreed. "We did all your dirty work while you just stand around and do nothing and reap the rewards!"

That's what we thought!" Tug smirked. "Okay everyone, all those in favor of me being the new leader, raise your hand!"

Grunt, Baxter, Jamal and a couple of the boys raised their hands.

"Okay, now all those who want ME to be the leader!" Logan pointed to himself.

Pierre and Miguel raised their hands.

"Well, it's unanimous!" said Pierre. "Tug is the new leader of the gang!"

All the boys, except Flim Flam cheered for Tug on his victory.

As the boys cheered on, Flim Flam was looking around when he noticed something going on outside the shack.

"What's going on outside...?" He wondered as he got up. "Well, since the boys don't want me, I might as well as leave them here and go find out myself."

He walked over to the door and peeled outside to see what was going on.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **It looks like Flim-Flam ain't the leader anymore, but it also looks like they're in hot water now and so are the Grimwood Ghouls now that Strickland knows about them. Stay tuned for more!**


	8. Military Mooks

Meanwhile, the ghouls had finished their dinner.

"Alright my pupils, you'd better wash up and start studying, because tomorrow, you will be finding out whether or not you will be moving on at this school." said Miss Grimwood.

"Yes, Miss Grimwood." the ghouls nodded and headed upstairs.

"Well, guess I had better pack up my bags, so it won't be hard to say goodbye tomorrow." Tanis said sadly.

"I hope it doesn't have to come to that, Tanis." Sibella sighed as she placed her hand on her shoulder.

"But my mummy and daddy expect so much of me and they will never let me stay here." Tanis started to cry. "I love this school. I don't wanna go home. Well, not yet at least..."

The little mummy girl started to cry.

"Awww, poor baby..." Sibella said as she hugged Tanis.

The other ghouls all looked on solemnly as Sibella comforted the young mummy.

"We need to help Tanis out, ghouls." Winnie said. "She can't leave this school, she's my best friend!"

"I agree." Phantasm nodded.

"But what can we do?" asked Elsa. "We're just three little monster girls."

"That may be, but we are also the daughters of the greatest monsters of all time!" Phantasma said. "If our mummies and daddies can scare entire European villages, haunt houses, curse innocent Egyptians, change people into wolves, and kill their own creators, then we can help Little Tanis!"

The older ghouls shared looks with each other, and then they nodded thoughtfully.

Winnie walked right over to Tanis and tugged on her wrapping, "Hey Tanny. Turn that frown upside down, cause we are gonna help you get that trophy."

Tanis wiped a tear off her face, "R-really?"

"Of course we are, silly." Phantasma giggled. "That's what friends are for."

"Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" Tanis jumped for joy and hugged Winnie. "I couldn't do it without you!"

"Well we haven't really done anything yet." Elsa said.

"True, how are we going to get Tanis a trophy and be ready for the midterm test tomorrow?" Sibella asked her fellow ghouls.

"While helping her prepare for the test is the easy part, getting her a trophy is gonna be the hard part." Winnie agreed.

"Yeah, there's gotta be one trophy she can win by tomorrow." Elsa nodded.

"Main question now is, what trophy can we help her win?" Winnie asked.

The ghouls all pondered on what they could possibly do.

"You know, there's still that volleyball trophy that Miss Grimwood has been trying to win back from that Calloway guy down the block," said Elsa. "Maybe we could challenge him to a game and give Tanis the trophy when we win?"

The ghouls shared looks with each other.

"Wow Elsa, that's actually not a bad idea." said Sibella.

"Yeah! It'll be a perfect time for me to dominate the court, baby!" Winnie howled. "Aroooo!"

"And we can invite our parents to watch us win." Phantasma added.

"Then it's settled! We shall win that volleyball trophy and give it to Tanis." Sibella said. "And I'll make sure she makes the winning shot."

Tanis squealed. "Oh thank you Sibella! Thank you so much!"

The little mummy girl jumped into Sibella's arms and kissed her on the cheek.

"Ah, no need to thank me." Sibella blushed. "That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"I don't know, but I think it is." Tanis cuddled up to her friend.

The ghouls all joined in for a group hug together, laughing and feeling content.

* * *

Meanwhile, Flim Flam's eyes widened as he caught sight of what was outside the shack.

It was a man coming right towards the shack. But it wasn't just any man, it was the same man from the pictures.

"Dios mio! I gotta warn the others!" He thought.

He ran back inside to warn his friends about the man who was coming. He saw that they were having a little conference.

"Okay troops," said Tug. "The first thing we need to do is-"

"Guys! Guys! We gotta get outta here!" Flim Flam warned the gang. "You see.."

"Sorry Flim, but Tug's our new leader, so we only listen to him." Jamal said. "And right now, he's about to tell us about some gizmos he's thinking of making."

"Yeah! So be quiet!" Baxter stuck out his tongue.

The other boys all nodded in agreement and turned away from Flim Flam.

"Okay gang," said Tug. "For my first invention, I was actually thinking about building some kind of..."

Just then, the door opened up. It was the man that Flim Flam was coming.

"What on earth are you boys doing in here?!" The man boomed, causing the boys to jump in shock.

"Yikes!" They shouted.

"I leave and go to my house for five minutes, and I come to my shack to see some kids trespassing on my property?" said the man. "And what the heck are you boys doing here? Shouldn't you be at home doing math or something?"

The boys shared looks with each other while Flim Flam deadpanned.

"That's what I was trying to warn you guys about!" He mouthed.

Feb 2"Alright maggots! Which one of you is in charge of this brigade?" the man demanded.

The boys all pointed to Tug, who chuckled nervously.

"Front in center!" the man barked.

18h agoTug swallowed as he stepped forward.

o"So, explain yourself, soldier!" the man barked.

Tug gulped. "We're sorry for coming into your shed, did. It's just that...we ran away from our orphanage and we were trying to find food, water, and shelter."

"Well obviously, you don't belong out here." said the man. "You boys had better go back to that orphanage, where it's safe."

"We will like to, but...uh...the director of that orphanage is a total tyrant!" Tug said.

"Tyrant? What the heck are you talking about, son?" demanded the man.

"When the director sends you out to sell stuff people won't buy and doesn't compensate you for the wasted time, then it fits the definition of tyranny." Tug swallowed.

"And he never thanks us, either." Grunt added.

"Huh" The man grunted as he looked at the boys, one by one.

"We're really sorry sir, but we'd really like to stay with you for a while, if you don't mind." Logan said calmly.

"Yeah! We'll be good, we promise." Pierre smiled.

"Hmmm..." The man glared as he closely examined each of the boys standing in front of him.

He didn't want to get in any trouble with the law, but he also didn't want them to go back that mean director if what they said was true.

"Oh fine, you can stay..." He sighed.

"Hooray!" The boys cheered.

"But!" the man cut them off. "It's only for a little while! After that, I'm sending you to a better orphanage!"

"Oh don't worry!" Flim Flam boasted. "You won't regret it, Mister...um...uh..."

"Actually, it's 'Colonel.'" The man said. "Colonel Calloway, of the Marine Corps! But my troops call me, 'Sir'"

The boys all swallowed.

"Well now that you boys are here, drop down and give me twenty push ups!" Calloway ordered the boys.

The boys immediately started doing push ups.

"I'm actually kinda glad I'm letting you boys stay with me." Calloway said. "You seem to be perfect for this big competition coming up."

"What competition?" asked the boys.

"The volleyball competition." The colonel said. "You see, I'm the headmaster of the Calloway Military Academy and every year, we take part in the volleyball competition with the neighboring girls school, who has yet to clinch a trophy."

The boys shared looks with each other at the remark.

"And you want us to compete?" asked Jamal.

"Precisely, solider." Calloway said. "Thanks to training from my old military camp, Barnstorm Academy, I have been able to maintain that trophy every year."

Tug whistled, "I gotta say...sir, that's quite impressive."

"That's right! And I intend to have you be ready by tomorrow!" said the Colonel. "Now fifty jumping jacks!"

The boys immediately started doing jumping jacks frantically.

* * *

Fast forward to couple hours later, the colonel brought the boys, who were by then completely worn out by all the exercising, to the academy.

"This is where you boys would be staying in the duration of the competition." Calloway barked as he showed the boys their room with all the beds inside. "During this time, I expect nothing other than order and discipline. Should any of you step out of line, I would not hesitate to have you sent back to that orphanage!"

The boys immediately snapped to attention and stood still with their backs completely straight.

"Is that understood, young Marines?!" Calloway barked as he glared at the boys with a stern look of expectation on his face.

The boys all swallowed and nodded.

"Sir, yes sir!" They all shouted.

"At ease, soldiers!" Calloway said. "Get some sleep! We've got a big day ahead of us!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The boys should. "Good night, sir!"

The boys all immediately got into their bunk beds.

The colonel nodded and marched his way out of the room.

"Good night and sleep tight!" He said as he stepped outside the room, then looking down the hallway, he then added, "Lights out!"

At that command, the lights inside the room went off, and the colonel marched down the hallway, leaving the boys huddled in their beds in the dark room.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Looks like the boys have found a nice place to stay, but it is not exactly what they had in mind. After all, their temporary guardian is the head of a military academy and he is more than determined to mold them into fearless cadets, especially since that trophy has been his for quite some time. But will they recognize their old ghoulish foes? Stay tuned!**


	9. Volleyball Vixens

The next morning, the boys were all awaken by the trumpet playing a wake up fanfare of sorts.

They all groaned at the loud horn music and noticed it was still dark.

"Oh man...what time is it?" Pierre asked as he put on his glasses.

"It's only...seven o'clock." Flim groaned after he managed to catch a glimpse of the clock.

"Ugh..." Logan rubbed his eyes.

Just then, Calloway came into the room, all dressed up.

"Boys! Front and center!" He barked.

The boys lined up into a straight line.

"How is it that the colonel is all dressed up for the day this time of the morning?" Tug wondered to himself.

"Alright cadets! As you know, we have a huge volleyball game today and we are going up against Miss. Grimwood's all-girl school today, whom I want not to take that volleyball trophy from me." Calloway said. "So, all of you are going to train very hard today."

"Uh oh." The boys thought.

"Now drop down and give me fifty push ups!" Calloway barked.

The boys immediately dropped down to the floor and started doing push ups.

Once that was done, the colonel ordered the boys to all stand up.

"Alright!" He barked. "Now, to warm you boys up, get moving and start jogging around the academy building!"

"Sir!" The boys saluted.

The boys immediately started jogging around the building. Once that was done, they went to a course filled with very difficult obstacles.

"Now make it all the way across the obstacle course in thirty seconds, maggots!" Calloway ordered.

"Yes sir, Colonel Calloway!" The boys saluted and started running across the course.

* * *

The next half hour was filled with more physically taxing activities and exercises before chow time came for the boys.

"Eat up boys, you're gonna need your nourishment." Calloway said. "And that plate had better be 100% clean. Not a speck of food on it!"

"Yes sir!" The boys saluted.

The colonel grunted and then marched his way out of the mess hall.

While the colonel was out of earshot, the boys turned to each other.

"You know guys, this is not what I had in mind." Tug remarked.

"It's a military school, this is how they live." Jamal deadpanned.

"It's still slightly better than being with that moron, Strickland." Logan remarked.

"At least the colonel knows when to feed us, whereas that old goat doesn't even keep track on whether or not we've eaten well." Grunt agreed.

"Or eaten at all." Pierre said as he ate another bite of food.

A short while later, the boys had finished their breakfast, just as soon as Calloway arrived in the mess hall.

"Ten hut!" He barked.

The boys all lined up in a single file line.

"Alright boys! The volleyball game is at noon and I hope you're prepared!" Calloway barked.

"Sir yes sir!" The boys shouted.

"Good." Calloway nodded. "Now get back to your room and make it completely spotless!"

The boys saluted and headed back to their room to make it as clean as a whistle.

* * *

Fast forward to 30 minutes later, the boys were all on their knees scrubbing the floor of their bedroom.

"You know, Calloway seems really determined to keep that volleyball trophy." Flim Flam said.

"Yeah, this training is pretty insane." Logan nodded. "We haven't even practiced volleyball yet."

"No kidding." Tug agreed.

"I wonder when he's gonna make us do that?" Flim Flam remarked.

"Boys! Time's up!" Calloway barked.

The boys immediately stopped scrubbing the floor.

"Stand hut!" The colonel barked, and the boys immediately stood up and placed their hands by their sides.

Calloway inspected the floor to make sure it was clean. He rubbed his finger on it and took a good look at his finger.

"Hmmm..." He squinted his eyes. "Excellent work, cadets, but make sure to clean it harder next time. Anyways, we've got the volleyball game in an hour, and I need to hold my record of beating Grimwood, which is why we are going to be training for the rest of the hour!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The boys all said.

"Good! Now march troops!" Calloway snapped.

The boys all marched to the volleyball court, ready to practice.

"This had better pay off." Calloway thought.

Upon arriving at the volleyball court, the boys lined up in single formation.

"Alright privates!" Calloway snapped. "This Ian a very serious matter you are training for! Those Grimwood girls have always competed against us and have never stood a chance at winning my precious trophy! I am not going to let our streak end!"

"No sir!" The boys shouted.

"I am not going to let those girls upstage us men!" Calloway continued.

"No sir!" The boys shouted.

"And you are going to compete hard in this game!" Calloway continued.

"Yes sir!" The boys shouted.

"Good! Now let's train!" Calloway finished.

The boys began training very hard for the big game.

* * *

Meanwhile, the ghouls were likewise taking part in their own volleyball practice.

"Ah, the day is so cloudy and foggy." Sibella said as she spiked the volleyball to the other side of the net. "Perfect for a nice game of volleyball."

"Yeah! It's a real treat!" Phantasma giggled.

As the girls continued to engage in their practice, Miss Grimwood observed them from the sidelines with Matches.

"Gee Matches, the girls seem very determined to win that game." She said to her little dragon. "Just look at them train."

Matches nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Hopefully, we can break that losing streak we have been going through since Colonel Calloway was appointed to the academy." Miss Grimwood mused.

Matches nodded and gave a thumbs up.

* * *

Eventually, it was time for the big game. The ghouls were all determined to win.

"Alright ghouls, the Calloway cadets will be here any minute, I hope you are all ready." said Miss. Grimwood.

"Of course we are, headmistress." Sibella said. "You've taught us so well, that we must repay you."

"Don't worry too much." Miss. Grimwood smiled. "Just teaching you is all the reward I need. However, I still would like to put Mr. Calloway in his place, so make sure you win."

"Don't worry, we will!" Winnie growled.

"I certainly hope so." Tanis thought to herself.

"And just in time, too." Miss. Grimwood turned around as she heard the tune of military marching band music.

It was Calloway and his new cadets, ready to compete against the ghouls.

As Calloway and his new cadets marched towards the volleyball arena, Sibella thought that the new cadets looked familiar.

"Ten hut!" Calloway shouted to the boys.

The boys stood firmly in place as the two teachers approached each other.

"Miss Grimwood..." Calloway said to his rival.

"Mr. Calloway..." Miss. Grimwood nodded.

"Good seeing you again." Calloway said. "And I look forward to keeping the trophy for another year."

"We'll see about that." Miss Grimwood deadpanned.

"Very well." Calloway said. "Boys! To the court!"

"Sir!" The boys marched over to the court, ready to fight against the girls.

As they marched towards the court, the boys thought that the girls looked familiar.

"Haven't we seen those girls before?" Flim Flam whispered to Logan.

"Not that I can remember." Logan whispered back. "Though the purple one is kinda cute."

"I'll say." Flim Flam nodded.

"Say, aren't those the boys that broke into the school yesterday?" Elsa whispered to Sibella.

"It might as well be, but I sure hope they don't remember us being monsters." Sibella whispered back.

"My father says that mortals are too dumb to see the obvious." Elsa whispered. "I think we are safe."

"I hope you're right." Sibella nodded.

Just then, the sound of a whistle blew.

"Alright everyone! Take your positions!" said Miss Grimwood.

Both the boys and the girls faced each other on their respective sides of the net.

"Since the Calloway boys are the visiting team, they will serve first." said Miss Grimwood.

Tug tossed the ball into the air and spiked it to the other side of the net.

As the ball sailed over the net, the ghouls got ready.

"Alright, it's approaching you, Winnie." Sibella remarked as she saw the ball fly. "Spike it, sister!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Winnie howled.

She jumped up and hit the ball as hard as she could, sending it flying over the net and landing right onto Baxter's stomach, causing him to be pushed into the ground.

"Oah..." The boys looked towards Baxter as the game paused. "That's gotta hurt."

"Baxter! Are you okay, buddy?" Pierre asked as he picked his friend up out of the pile of dirt.

"Sure, but I think one of my bones got dislocated..." Baxter groaned.

"Hey! You're not gonna let that weird, furry girl push you around like that, are you?" Flim Flam asked his fellow cadet.

"I guess not..." Baxter rubbed his head.

"I don't know how she did that, but we can't lose to a bunch of girls!" Tug said. "Especially girls who are wearing freaky costumes!"

"Let's get 'em!" Miguel nodded as he began to serve the ball at the blow of the whistle.

The ball flew over the net and headed right towards Elsa.

"It's a good thing I have some gorilla dna in my left arm." She thought.

Elsa punched the ball and it flew right down onto Miguel's face, sending him flying into a tree and knocking him out cold.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Tug remarked as the whistle was blown.

"Another point for Grimwood." Calloway growled as Matches marked a second tally on the scoreboard.

"Guys, we're losing!" Tug turned to his fellow cadets. "We need to up our game!"

"But how?" asked Grunt. "For a bunch of girls in cheesy costumes, they sure are skilled."

"You're telling me!" Miguel said as he got up and rubbed his face.

"Not to mention, we're outnumbering those girls by three guys." Logan pointed out.

"Well then, if we are going to beat them, we will need to come up with a better strategy." Tug said.

"Well what did you have in mind, 'O fearless leader'?" Flim Flam mocked Tug.

"Uh..." Tug racked his mind as he tried to think of something.

"I think what we need to do is be unpredictable and start playing harder." Grunt suggested.

"Or we could try doing a little flattery." Flim Flam said.

"Flattery?" Tug raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, dude?"

"I'm talking about giving those girls the old Flim Flam charm." Flim Flam smoothed his eyebrows. "If you know what I mean."

The boys shared looks with each other.

"No." They shook their heads.

"I mean, we're going to flirt with them!" Flim Flam groaned.

"Not sure if that's gonna work..." Miguel grunted.

"In that case, do you guys have any suggestions?" Flim Flam asked as he folded his arms.

Everyone tried to think of something, but they couldn't.

"That's what I thought." The Latino smirked. "Now step back and watch the master at work."

The boys only grunted as Flim Flam stepped forward.

He approached the ghouls with a sly smirk on his face. "Hello ladies, enjoying the game?"

Sibella and the ghouls looked up and saw Flim Flam, and they smirked.

"Why just fine, thank you very much." Sibella responded flirtatiously.

"Well you know, it really doesn't surprise me that you girls are winning. You've got the skills of a pro athlete." Flim Flam raised his eyebrows.

"Thanks, I work out a lot." Elsa chuckled.

"And with those faces, you five could be movie stars." Flim Flam continued.

"Why thank you very much, handsome." Sibella batted her eyelashes at the Latino. "I don't get that a lot."

"Don't mention it, doll face." Flim Flam winked.

As Flim Flam was distracting the ghouls, the whistle blew and the boys ganged up.

"Alright!" said Miss. Grimwood. "Time for the second half! Since the Calloway cadets lost the first half, they'll serve first."

She tossed the ball over to Tug, who then proceeded to spike the ball.

"Here goes..." Tug remarked.

He threw the ball up into the air and it began to approach the ghouls.

"I've got it! I've got it!" Sibella ran to catch the ball.

But just when she was about to spike it back, Flim Flam winked at the vampire girl, causing her to giggle and blush, thereby missing the ball.

"Point Calloway!" said Miss. Grimwood.

The boys shared looks with each other as they received a point.

"Oh, I see what you did there, Flim." Logan made a knowing smirk. "Clever. For once, I think you've got this figured out, buddy."

"Keep it up, lads." Flim Flam nodded. "If we keep this up, we'll be keeping the trophy for the colonel."

The boys went back to the game. Before they knew it, Flim Flam's plan had been working after all.

When Miguel served the next shot, Elsa was about to catch it when she saw him smirking and raising his eyebrows at her.

Elsa chuckled and blushed, causing her to miss the volleyball.

"Point Calloway!" Miss. Grimwood chalked up another point for the cadets.

"Yes!" Tug pumped his fist. "We're in the lead now!"

"Come on guys! We're this close to winning!" Flim Flam said enthusiastically.

* * *

As that was happening, the ghouls regrouped to plot their strategy.

"Those boys are outsmarting us. They're three points away from winning the game." Sibella said. "We need to find a way to beat them."

"But how? We can't use our powers, that'll get us exposed." Elsa pointed out. "We need to find a way to get them back without cheating."

Sibella paused her lips as she tries to cook up a strategy.

"Any ideas, Bella?" Tanis tugged on her friend's dress.

"I think I've got it!" Sibella snapped her fingers. "Those boys are flirting with us, so why don't we try fighting fire with fire?"

Elsa gasped and panicked. "No! No! No! Fire bad! Fire bad!"

"I don't think she means that literally, Elsa." Phanty said.

"What I am trying to say is, if those boys are flirting with us as a way to get us off guard, we should flirt with them right back." Sibella explained. "It's called, 'Reverse Psychology.'"

The ghouls shared looks with each other, and then they all nodded thoughtfully.

"Sounds like a good idea." Elsa nodded.

"Fang-tastic! Let's give those boys a taste of their own medicine." Sibella grinned.

The girls grinned back as well, and they returned to their positions as the whistle was blown.

"Serve up, girls!" said Miss. Grimwood.

Sibella spiked the ball across the net and it was landing right towards Logan.

Just as he was about to hit it back, Sibella looked at him flirtatiously, batted her eyelashes, and blew him a kiss, causing the boy's eyes to turn into hearts and his feet to flutter in the air, completely missing the ball.

"Hey, what just happened?" Tug asked as they saw the ball land on the court.

"I think that Logan didn't hit the ball and the girls scored a point." Pierre replied.

"What? How did that happen?" Tug wondered.

"I don't know, but we need to keep our acts together, guys." Flim Flam urged.

"Yeah!" Baxter agreed. "We shouldn't let down the colonel!"

Baxter grabbed the ball and tossed it up to the net, where it was flying right towards little Tanis.

Tanis' eyes widened as she saw the ball sailing towards her.

Noticing the look of uncertainty in her eyes, Phanty said, "Now Tanis!"

Tanis shut her eyes tight and hit the ball so hard, that it nearly flew up into the clouds, much to everyone's surprise.

"Whoa!" Grunt remarked.

After waiting a whole thirty seconds, the ball started to come right down the boys' side of the net.

"I got it! I got it!" They chanted.

They ran right towards the ball, but they crashed into each other, causing them to fall down and miss the ball.

"One point to the Grimwood ghouls." Miss Grimwood announced.

"Come on guys, we gotta pick up the pace!" Tug said. "Otherwise, Calloway is gonna blow his stack!"

The boys and girls went back to competing. Eventually, the scores were tied neck-to-neck.

"Hoh boy." Flim thought to himself as he prepares to launch the ball.

"All we need is one more point and we will finally be able to win." Sibella thought on the other side.

Flim threw the ball up into the air and hit it across the net as hard as he could.

"Here goes." Flim thought as he watched the ball sail over the net.

As the ball approached the ghouls, it started landing right towards little Tanis.

"Oh no..." She whispered as she saw the big ball getting closer.

Instinctively, the little mummy swung her arm and hit the ball.

The ball flew right up into the air, but this time right past the clouds and nearly the Earth's atmosphere.

"Wow Tanis, I guess you don't know you're own strength." Elsa remarked.

"Sorry." Tanis said meekly.

* * *

Several minutes went by as the boys looked up into the sky anxiously.

"You think that ball is ever coming back down?" asked Jamal.

"I have no clue." Grunt replied.

Just then, some sort of red orb came flying down from the sky.

"Oh...!" Tug said.

The ball was coming down extremely fast like a meteor and right towards the boys.

"Aaaahhh!" They screamed and ran.

The ball landed, causing a loud explosion and made a huge crater in the ground.

Some smoke emerged from the crater, and there was trouble for everyone around to see what was going on.

Everyone rushed over to the crater to see what had happened to the ball.

As the smoke cleared, everyone peered down towards the crater.

"Holy Toledo." Flim Flam remarked.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Looks like this has been one crazy volleyball game. So, who won? You'll just have wait and see for more!**


	10. Exams and Loss

As the smoke cleared, everyone was able to get a clear view of the crater.

"Wowsers! Look at that thing." Flim Flam remarked. "You could go to China with that thing."

"But where's the ball?" Elsa said. "It's gotta be somewhere."

"Yeah." Tug nodded. "There's no way it could've simply vanished."

"Well it would seem that Tanis has scored the winning point, regardless." said Miss Grimwood. "So it looks like the ghouls have won the competition."

"We have?" the ghouls gasped.

"They have?" Calloway gasped.

"It's the final quarter, and the ball landed on the Calloway side of the court." Miss Grimwood pointed out.

"Preposterous!" Calloway barked.

"Nope. It's all fair and square, colonel." Sibella placed her hands on her hips. "For the first time, we've won the contest!"

"Hooray!" The other ghouls cheered.

"All thanks to Tanis!" Phanty added.

"We could not have won without you, Tanny." Winnie said. "You're the best!"

Matches handed Tanis the trophy and she held it up high.

Sibella, Elsa, Winnie, and Phanty picked Tanis up and kissed her cheeks.

* * *

Meanwhile, the boys were still surprised by the results of the game.

"I don't get it! How could we have lost to a bunch of girls?" Tug remarked.

"Girls in Halloween costumes, no less." Jamal added.

"I honestly don't know, guys." Flim Flam said. "Though I really could've sworn we've seen those girls before, I just can't lay my finger on it."

"All I know is that Calloway is gonna real disappointed that we lost the game." Logan gulped.

Sure enough, the colonel was not at all very pleased after he was forced to give up the trophy.

"Boys! I can't tell you how disappointed I am in you today!" Calloway silently whispered. "I had a perfect winning streak and it got ruined."

"Sorry, Sir." said Tug. "Don't worry. We'll get the trophy back next time."

"You better be right." Calloway glared.

"We are, Sir." Tug nodded.

"Very well then." Calloway said. "Come soldiers. We must retreat back to base."

The boys followed the colonel back to the school.

While that was happening, Flim tried to think about where he had seen the girls before.

"I know I saw those girls before, I just know it!" He thought. "Primarily because I've never seen girls before that."

Fast forward to lunch time, the boys were having lunch at the mess hall.

"Those girls can't get away with doing this to Mr. Calloway." said Tug. "We've gotta do something to get back at them."

"Like what?" asked Jamal. "We can't steal the trophy. We could get in trouble for that."

"And if we do get caught, who knows if we would end up back in that old goat's evil lair." Pierre added.

"I guess we'd better just let Calloway deal with his loss." Logan shrugged as he continued eating. "That guy needs to learn humility."

"Indeed." Baxter nodded.

As that was happening, the guys noticed that Flim was deep in thought.

"Hey Flim! What's up?" Logan asked his buddy. "You seem to be deep in thought."

"Yeah, you haven't eaten your food." Pierre pointed out.

"I don't know, guys..." Flim sighed. "I could've sworn...we've seen those girls before. I'm sure of it."

"Don't be ridiculous, buddy." Logan said. "We've never seen any girls in our lives. Unless we count those nuns who used to work at the home, but of course, we'd prefer to pretend they never existed."

"Yeah." Tug agreed. "Don't think too much about them."

Flim nodded, though he was still unsure about the comments.

"I still don't know guys, there was something about them that seemed vaguely familiar." He said.

"Don't worry to much about it, amigo." Miguel said. "You'd better eat up. You'll need your energy for classes later."

Flim sighed, then he nodded as he began to dig in.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the Ghoul School, the girls were all celebrating their victory.

"We did it! We did it!" Phanty cheered. "We finally won the trophy!"

"Now Tanis' parents won't pull her out of this school." Elsa smiled.

"And more importantly, we beat those Calloway boys!" Winnie howled.

"All thanks to Tanis." Sibella added.

"She might be tiny, but she has the biggest undead heart of us all." Elsa picked up the little mummy girl.

The ghouls then kissed Tanis' cheeks, causing her to giggle and blush.

"Thanks, guys." Tanis blushed.

"Aww, you know we'd do anything for you, Tanny." Winnie said. "We'd want your folks to be as proud of you as ours when they come here tonight."

Sibella gasped. "Oh my goodness! Our parents! The test! We haven't finished studying!"

The girls then raced upstairs to get right to studying.

"We'd better study fast." said Phanty. "The exam is in forty five minutes."

"Then we have no time to waste." Sibella proclaimed. "Let's start cramming!"

With that, the girls raced right to their desks.

* * *

After forty five minutes of cramming, it was finally time for the test.

"Alright my scary little pupils, it's time for the midterm exam." said Miss. Grimwood. "Remember, don't think of this as a final exam, just think of it as something that will haunt you for the rest of eternity."

The ghouls all went downstairs to the exam room with their heads held high.

"Good luck, ghouls." Miss. Grimwood said. "Remember, I have magic gemstones all over the room that record everything into my crystal ball, so do not think of cheating."

"No Miss. Grimwood." said the ghouls.

"Good, good." Miss Grimwood nodded approvingly.

The girls went into the exam room and began the test, each just as nervous as the other.

As the minutes ticked by, the level of suspense inside the room began to build. Some of them knew most of the answers, some of them didn't, but all of them knew they wanted to move forward in the school.

Several more minutes ticked by, then the bell rang.

"Time's up, ladies." said the headmistress. "Turn in your tests. You will get them back tonight at the homecoming party."

The ghouls all turned in their tests and walked back to their room.

There was some silence between the group as they made their way out of the test room.

"Well ghouls, I guess the best thing we can do now is hope we all passed." Sibella said.

"Yeah, especially when our parents arrive." Elsa added.

"Meanwhile, what should we do now?" Tanis asked.

"We'd better get the presents we made for them ready." Sibella said. "After all, we want them to know how much we've learned in this school."

"Good idea." said Phanty. "As long as we have passed, nothing can go wrong now."

The other ghouls nodded.

* * *

Unfortunately, they couldn't have been farther from wrong, because at that very moment, Lou Strickland was meeting the sleazy reporter, Heather Jasper Howls right back at the orphanage.

"So you're one hundred percent sure that the footage we're seeing right now is real." Howle asked after they reviewed the footage.

"Of course it is, Ms. Howls." Strickland said. "And my policebots will take us over to that place to show us these creatures up close. Once you expose them, you'll kiss your current career goodbye and get your own show."

"Tempting, tempting..." Howls drummed her fingers on Strickland's desk.

"You will not regret it!" Strickland laughed evilly. "This will be the highlight of your career."

Howls thought for a while, "Very well then. Mr. Strickland, you have yourself a deal."

They both shook hands and started laughing evilly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the boys were taking part in marching drills that afternoon.

"I don't know what I've been told!" Calloway sang.

"I don't know what I've been told!" The boys parroted.

"End of the world be mighty cold!" Calloway continued.

"End of the world be might cold!" The boys repeated.

"Left, right, left!" Calloway barked.

Glaring at the boys, he then added, "Keep your arms straight while swinging them!"

The boys marched in order with their heads held up high.

"Company, halt!" Calloway barked.

The boys stopped right in their place.

"Raise baton up high!" Calloway snapped.

The boys raised their batons up high.

"Now continue soldiers!" Calloway blew his whistle.

"Sir!" The boys resumed their marching drills.

"Left, right, left!" Calloway barked.

Just then, Flim Flam heard something not too far away in the distance.

"Guys, did you hear that?" He whispered.

"Hear what?" Logan whispered.

Flim Flam nodded towards where he had heard the noise from.

It was some kind of distinct laughter.

"Oh no..." Logan whispered.

"It's Strickland." Flim Flam whispered. "I'd know that crazy evil laughter anywhere."

"We can't let him spot us while we are in the schoolyards." Logan said. "If he does, we'll be back in that orphanage for sure. We need to find a way he won't spot us during our training."

Flim Flam nodded just as Calloway ordered the cadets to make a left wheel turn.

Next, it was time for the obstacle course.

"Alright cadets, it is time for your last exercise for the day." Calloway said. "Make it across this course in thirty seconds."

"Sir!" The cadets all shouted.

They started racing across the obstacles. While trying to get across the tires, Flim Flam and Logan discussed how to avoid being spotted.

"What're we gonna do, Logan?" asked Flim. "Strickland is probably getting closer to us as we speak."

Logan saw Strickland pass the academy. "I don't think so. I'm not sure he's even gonna want to take us back."

"What do you mean?" asked Flim Flam.

"I think there's more to what he's up to than meets the eye." Logan replied. "He didn't even stop at the academy even though we're in clear view from where he's at."

"You think?" Flim Flam asked.

"Positive." Logan nodded as he climbed up a rope. "I think we'd better look further into this."

Flim Flim nodded thoughtfully.

* * *

As soon as everyone crossed the course, they were completely exhausted.

"Alright boys, that's all our training for today!" said Calloway. "Head to the showers at once and be at the mess hall for supper at 1800 hours!"

"Sir yes sir!" The boys saluted.

"Good." Calloway nodded. "Dismissed!"

The boys all marched back into their room for a nice hot shower.

"Okay Logan, while they're showering, we can follow Strickland to see what he's up to." Flim Flam whispered to his Korean American boy.

"But Calloway is expecting us to be clean and ready for dinner." Logan said. "After today, I could use a good wash."

"Well that may be, but Strickland is up to something, I just know he is." Flim insisted.

"Just like you knew how we were going to survive out here on our own?" Logan folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Flim Flam looked at Logan blankly.

"Let's just go!" He groaned.

The boys snuck out of the academy and secretly followed Strickland while the others went inside.

As the duo silently shadowed Strickland, they were getting anxious to find out what the orphanage director is up to.

"Whatever that old goat's up to, it can't be good." Logan whispered.

"Tell me about it." Flim Flam agreed.

They continued to secretly follow Strickland until they finally reached their destination.

"Flim Flam, look!" Logan pointed to a sign in front of the place.

Flim looked closely at the sign and squinted his eyes, "Mi...mi...s...uh...uh..."

"How about I give it a try?" Logan pushed Flim Flam aside and looked at the sign.

As he was reading the sign, Flim Flam take a look at the building in front of them.

"It says, 'Miss Grimwood's School for Girls.'" Logan read the sign. "Wasn't that the school we just competed against in that volleyball thing?"

"Yeah, but what could Strickland want with them?" Flim wondered.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good." Logan replied.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Flim nodded as they sneaked over to the closest window and peeked in.

It was the Grimwood Ghouls standing in front of their headmistress, who had all the results of the midterms.

"Alright ghouls, I just want to say that I was honored to have you as my pupils, but I'm afraid rules are rules and these tests will determine whether or not you shall move on in the programs." She said.

The ghouls all gulped. Their futures as monsters were at stake.

"And now, without further adieu..." Miss Grimwood continued, only to be interrupted by Matches growling.

"Not now, Matches. I'm trying to announce the grades." She said.

Matches, however, continued to growl angrily.

"Oh, what's the matter now?" Miss Grimwood asked as she turned towards the little dragon.

Matches pointed to the window that Flim Flam and Logan were looking through.

As Miss Grimwood turned, the two boys both ducked downwards under.

"Oh Matches, you're probably just seeing things." Miss. Grimwood patted the little dragon's head. "Now anyways, as I was saying, here are the results..."

The octopus butler played a drum roll.

"First up, Sibella Dracula, you have passed with a 91!" Miss. Grimwood read the first test paper.

"Fang-tastic!" Sibella exclaimed. "I knew that extra tutoring would pay off!"

The ghouls murmured among themselves while Miss Grimwood continued.

"Elsa Frankenteen, you have gotten the highest grade of 102!" She continued. "You've got the highest mark in the whole academy."

"Boy, Elsa may be slow, made of dead body parts, and a big klutz, but she sure has the brains to make up for it." Winnie remarked.

"Next, Winnie Wolfman." Miss Grimwood remarked.

"Yes Miss. Grimwood?" Winnie batted her eyelashes.

"You have passed with a 72." Miss. Grimwood read the paper.

"Yes! I knew it! I passed!" Winnie howled and started jumping for joy. "Aroooo!"

"Down, girl." Miss. Grimwood softly commanded.

Winnie sat down like a dog and started panting.

"Oh, Winnie." Phanty giggled.

"Next up is Phantasma." Miss. Grimwood continued. "You have passed with a whopping 83."

"83? Whoppe!" Phanty started flying up in the air and doing loop-de-loops.

"And finally, Tanis." Miss Grimwood said as she turned to the mummy girl. "You've passed with an 89!"

Tanis gasped. "I passed?"

"Yes my dear, you've passed." Miss. Grimwood nodded.

"See Tanny, I knew you could do it." Winnie said as she put her hand on Tanis' shoulder.

"Thanks for your faith in me." Tanis smiled. "I couldn't have done it without support from you guys."

"Hey, that's what friends are for, little mummy." Phanty giggled.

"Now you girls better spruce yourselves up, your parents are going to be here in an hour." said Miss. Grimwood.

The ghouls nodded.

As soon as Miss. Grimwood and the ghouls left to get ready, Flim Flam and Logan climbed through the window and broke in.

"Come on, we've gotta warn those girls about Strickland." Flim Flam whispered. "They could be in danger."

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Logan thought.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **And so do I, Logan. It looks like Flim-Flam's getting you into another conundrum and it looks like Strickland and Howls mean business. Stay tuned for more.**


	11. Homecoming Night

Meanwhile, unaware that he was being shadowed by Flim Flam and Logan, Strickland smirked as he stood on the front porch, ready to set his sinister plan in motion.

"Get ready for the scoop of your lifetime, Ms. Howls, cause this will take us both to the top." Strickland told Howls.

"You'd better." Howls glared.

Strickland then proceeded to knock on the front door.

After a minute or so, Miss. Grimwood came to the front door.

"Hello, may I help you?" She asked the two.

As that happened, Flim and Logan peeked out from the nearby bushes.

"It's him..." Flim whispered.

"The old goat!" Logan growled. "If he's involved, it can't be good."

"Yeah." Flim agreed. "We gotta do something."

"But what?" Logan whispered. "We don't know what he's up to or how to stop it."

"I know." Flim whispered. "Though I've got just the thing to head that old goat off the pass."

"Oh yeah? What?" Logan skeptically whispered.

Flim Flam reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin on a string.

"A coin on a string?" Logan raised an eyebrow.

"Just watch." Flim winked.

He tossed the coin right next to Strickland's foot. Feeling the coin hit his foot, he turned down and saw it.

"Money!" He gasped. "Mine!"

Before he could grab the coin, Flim Flam pulled it back.

"Hey!" Strickland chased after the coin. "Get back here you stupid shiny moving coin!"

Miss Grimwood and Howle shared confused looks with each other as Strickland took off after the coin.

"Is he...all right?" Miss Grimwood asked as she gestured towards Strickland.

"He's fine, Miss Grimwood." Howls rolled her eyes. "Now anyways, I've been getting some pretty interesting reports about you and your school."

"What do you mean?" Miss. Grimwood asked with a suspicious face.

"Well, you see..." Howls narrowed her eyes. "I've got sources who has told me that your school may have a...how should I put this...?"

"Paranormal situation?" Miss Grimwood pointed out, aware of the direction of the conversation.

"Why yes, and I would like to ask you a few questions about your little 'situation' if you don't mind." Howls smirked.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I really don't feel comfortable doing that." Miss. Grimwood said politely.

"Really?" Howls said sarcastically. "Because I do have footage that would spell trouble for you and your students."

The head police robot then turned on its video screen and showed the footage of the Ghouls fighting the other robots.

"What do you have to say to that?" Howls gave a sinister grin.

Miss Grimwood paused her lips as she folded her arms, "I believe you should leave!"

* * *

Meanwhile, as Flim was leading Strickland away, Logan was watching Miss Grimwood slamming the door in Howls' face.

"Get back here you stupid, shiny moving coin!" Strickland chased the coin into a hollow log right at the edge of a river.

Flim Flam managed to reel the coin back into his hand and kicked Strickland into the log from behind.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" He demanded. "Where's my coin?!"

Howls grinned sinisterly, though the grin disappeared as she saw Strickland fighting the log.

She rolled her eyes and ran over to the edge of the river, where Strickland was. Luckily, Flim Flam managed to hide inside a bush to avoid being spotted.

"Mr. Strickland! What do you think you're doing?!" Howls demanded.

"There was a shiny, moving coin in this thing, but now it's suddenly gone!" Strickland grunted.

"Oh I don't have time for this, get out of there!" Howls tried to pull Strickland out of the log.

Just then, Flim snuck up behind Howls and kicked her from behind, sending her and Strickland off the edge and floating down the river.

"Yahhhhhh!" The duo screamed as they fell off the edge and made a huge splash as they landed in the river, leading right towards a waterfall.

As that happened, Logan raced over towards Flim Flam, who was looking over the edge and watching the log floating away with the two sinister adults.

"Boy, we sure showed those punks, huh Logan?" Flim Flam remarked.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but we sure as heck did!" Logan folded his arms. .

"Yup! We gave them the old Flim Flam!" Flim Flam fist bumped his best friend.

"We sure did!" Logan agreed. "I sure hope this is the last we've seen or heard of those two old goats!"

"Me too." Flim Flam nodded. "Come on, let's get back to the academy before we miss all the hot water!"

The boys then ran back to the academy so they'd be ready for showering and dinner.

* * *

Fast forward to an hour later, the cadets were all seated at the mess hall and having dinner.

"Boy, after all that training, I really needed a nice meal." Grunt said as he wolfed down the food on his tray.

"You always need a meal after you do anything, Grunt." Baxter laughed.

"Tell me about it." Jamal added.

"So, where were you guys?" Miguel asked Flim Flam and Logan. "We didn't see you guys when we went to the showers."

Flim and Logan shared looks with each other, then the latter said, "We...uh...just had some loose ends to take care of."

"Yeah, no biggie." Flim said as he ate more food.

"Okay then." Miguel said. "But hopefully, you won't have to tie up anymore loose ends for a while."

"Yeah." Tug nodded. "Calloway doesn't want anyone leaving the school grounds."

"Don't worry." said Flim Flam. "We won't."

"Okay, then." Tug said.

Just then, Calloway marched right into the mess hall.

"Alright boys, finish up all that food and be in your beds immediately afterwards!" Calloway barked.

"Sir yes sir!" The boys shouted.

As soon as they finished eating, the boys immediately went back to their room and started getting ready for bed.

* * *

Soon, it was time for lights out.

"Alright boys, you'd better sleep tight tonight, because we have a big training session and I will stop at the nothing to build you into shape and ready for the cold, cruel world, as we learned today when I lost my volleyball trophy."

"Yes, sir!" The boys all hollered.

"At ease, cadets." Calloway said as he turned off the light and left the room.

"You really think we've seen the last of Strickland, Flim Flam?" Logan whispered to Flim.

"I'm pretty sure." Flim Flam whispered back. "He is not going to bother those girls anymore."

"I wouldn't be too sure of it." Logan whispered. "That guy is too greedy for his own good."

"Don't worry about it." Flim whispered. "What matters is that we outsmarted him."

"I guess." Logan shrugged.

Eventually, the boys all drifted off to sleep as the physical exhaustion from the day's activities finally took its toll.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the Ghoul School, the ghouls were all dressed up and ready for the homecoming party.

"My my, you ghouls look disgustingly horrifying!" Miss. Grimwood said to the girls.

"Why thank you, headmistress." Sibella placed her hands on her hips. "I'd say so too, if I had a reflection."

"I'm sure you'll like your reflection if you do have one." Miss Grimwood smiled.

"So, when are our parents supposed to get here?" asked Elsa.

"Yeah! I can't wait to see my daddy!" Phantasma giggled.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"That must be them right now." said Miss. Grimwood.

The ghouls all nodded as the octopus butler proceeded to open the door.

Standing right before them were none other than their monster parents; the Count Dracula and his girlfriend, Vanna Pira, Frankenstein's Monster and his bride, Tanis mummy and daddy, the Wolfman, and Phanty's ghost father.

The mood amongst the monsters couldn't be more fitting, as it was raining outside when the parents arrived, and there was a flash of lightning the minute the butler opened the door.

"Mummy! Daddy!" Tanis gasped.

The girls all ran over to their parents to give them a nice hug.

The monsters all smiled as their daughters all rushed over to hug them.

"Oh daddy, how I've missed so much." Sibella hugged her father.

"Of course, my little devil chops." Dracula said affectionally. "I have missed you too. It has been so stressful preparing for the Monster Road Race and not having you around."

"I can imagine." Sibella nodded.

"Mummy! Daddy!" Tanis jumped into her mummy's arms.

"Tanis, there's our little wrapped bundle of joy." said Tanis' Mummy.

"So, did you win any trophies?" asked Mummy Daddy.

"Ra!" Tanis' Mummy elbowed her husband.

"Yes, I did, daddy!" Tanis smiled. "I won a volleyball trophy. It will look perfect in my mummy case."

"Oh, really?" Her father asked.

Tanis shook her head. "I did! I did!"

"Can we take a look at it?" Her mother asked.

"Sure!" Tanis grabbed her parents' hands and led them to her sarcophagus.

Elsa jumped up onto her father and knocked him down with her Frankenstein strength.

"Daddy!" She said as the bolts in her neck started to release some small forms of electricity.

"Elsa, my dear!" Her father laughed.

"Hey! How about a big hug for your mama?" Her mother opened up her arms.

Elsa jumped into her mother's arms and knocked her down as well.

"Somebody has been getting pretty strong." said Frankenstein's bride.

"I've been working out in gym class a lot." Elsa chuckled.

"We sure can see that." Frankenstein nodded in approval.

"Okay everyone, time for the banquet." said Miss. Grimwood. "Everyone into the dining room."

"Come on Mummy. Come on, daddy." Tanis grabbed her parents' hands.

The ghouls and their monster parents headed into the dining room.

Soon, everyone was gathered in the dining room enjoying the banquet.

"Thank you ladies and gentle-monsters for coming to our school homecoming banquet." said Miss. Grimwood. "I am pleased to say that Sibella, Elsa, Tanis, Winnie, and Phantasma have passed their midterm tests and will be moving on in the program."

The parents all cheered as the Wolfman howled.

"Splendid." The Count clapped his hands.

"Unfortunately, our other students weren't so lucky." Miss. Grimwood said awkwardly. "So it looks like until then, it's just my five passing pupils."

"Fang-tastic!" Sibella said to the other ghouls. "Looks like the gang is sticking together."

"Yeah, nothing can go wrong now." Winnie remarked. "Things are starting to really look up."

The other ghouls all nodded in agreement.

Little did they know is that some pure evil was right around the corner, because at that moment, a sinister figure was watching them from the Underworld.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Looks like the ghouls are about to face something much bigger than Strickland and Howls! And they're going to find out real soon.**


	12. Swamp Monsters

Meanwhile, Strickland and Howls were still on the log as it rushed through the roaring waters.

"Strickland! Get out of there!" Howls shouted into the log that Strickland was stuck in. "I've got my Thursday beauty appointment in an hour!"

"Mmph!" Strickland's response was muffled as he remained stuck headfirst in the log.

"Ugh!" Howls rolled her eyes.

She saw a nearby branch, grabbed onto it and tossed Strickland onto the surface, where the log smashed into pieces.

"There, that should help you respond better." Howls said as she leaped onto the land.

Strickland took the time to catch his breath, then he looked up.

"Huh? What's going on?" He said as he threw a fish back into the water.

"Somewhere in the woods, you big dope." Howls said. "Some idiot threw us down the river!"

"Huh." Strickland snorted as he looked around.

"Something tells me that those kids are onto us." Howls said.

"I should've guessed." Strickland growled.

"So what do you propose we do?" asked Howls. "And make it snappy!"

"First off, let's figure out a way back to town." Strickland said as he looked around. "Because staying here and arguing in the woods ain't gonna do much good for us."

"Tell me about it." Howls deadpanned.

The duo looked around the woods, trying to see if there's a pathway nearby that could hopefully lead them back to the city.

Just then, they spotted a foggy swamp nearby.

"There! We'll go in that swamp." said Howls.

"Are you crazy? I'm not gonna risk ruining my perfect feet in that smelly place!" Strickland said.

"Listen pal, you want a way out of here, don't you?" Howls places her hands on her hips. "Well get moving!"

"Whatever..." Strickland mumbled.

* * *

Fast forward to a 30 minutes later, the duo were at the other end of the swamp.

"Hoh boy..." Strickland grumbled in annoyance. "So much for it being a convenient shortcut."

"Well it looked like a shortcut to me!" Howls retorted.

"Maybe you need to get your eyes checked, Howls!" Strickland barked. "Because now, we are in the middle of nowhere!"

Then, eyeing Howls' clothes, Strickland added, "Not to mention that should we even make it back home, you're definitely gonna need to have a shower and getting your clothes into the laundry."

Strickland was rubbing his arms as he spoke, reminding himself of a struggle they had not to long ago while trying to cross the swamp.

"Fine! Then you lead the way!" Howls snapped.

"Fine! I will!" Strickland shouted.

As Howls began to follow Strickland deeper into the woods, she grumbled under her breath.

"I swear that if you get me stuck in quic-" Howls was about to continue when Strickland stopped as he raised his hand.

"Shh!" Strickland hushed.

"Now what?" Howls asked, annoyed.

"Listen to that..." Strickland whispered.

It was a creepy moaning sound coming from the far edge of the swamp.

"Do you hear that? That creepy m*** sound?" Strickland whispered. "It's coming from over there. Where there's m***, there's a person and where there's a person, there is civilization. We must be getting close."

Howls listen carefully and then she nodded.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" She whispered urgently. "Let's go!"

The two followed the sound to figure out as to where it was coming from. It was in no time at all that they found themselves near a spooky cave.

The duo paused as they stook at the cave entrance.

"Come inside..." a mysterious voice said from inside the cave. "Come inside..."

Intrigued and awed by the soothing and creepy voice, the duo followed the voice into the mysterious cave.

When the duo entered the cave, they saw the source of the light and the figure that is the source of the mysterious voice.

It was a dark green creature that looked like an Idaho potato with a red eye, and light green tentacles for arms and hands.

"What the?" Strickland raised an eyebrow.

Just then, the monster's tentacles grabbed the two.

"Aaaahhhh!" They screamed as the stump dragged them into the unknown.

What followed was complete darkness, and the duo struggled with all their might, to no avail.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the ghoul school, the parents were just leaving for home and so were the students who failed.

"Well folks, thank you for coming to homecoming night and farewell to you leaving students." said Miss. Grimwood.

There were some groans from the failed students as they made their way out of the door.

"Goodbye mummy, goodbye daddy." Tanis waved goodbye to her folks.

"So long daddy." Sibella waved goodbye to her father. "Have a fang-tastic time hosting the Monster Road Race."

"Bye bye dada, bye bye mama!" Elsa waved goodbye.

"So long Papa Wolfman!" Winnie howled. "I'll be listening for your howling!"

"Bye daddy! See ya! Don't wanna be ya!" Phanty giggled.

After all the monsters left the school, Miss Grimwood turned towards the remaining students.

"Well, I hope you ghouls are proud of yourselves for passing this semester." said Miss. Grimwood. "Remember, our end-of-semester monster ball is in two days."

"It sounds so fang-tastic." Sibella said. "It's a great way for us to have fun before we have to go home for semester break."

"Indeed." Phanty agreed.

"Well we'd better get upstairs and get some sleep." Sibella told her fellow ghouls. "We have to get ready."

The ghouls went upstairs and started getting ready for bed.

* * *

As that was happening, over at the military academy, the boys were all in bed.

Everyone was sound asleep, but something kept haunting Flim Flam's brain that just wouldn't shut up.

"Man, I really hope that's the last we see of Strickland." Flim thought. "Though I really could've sworn we've seen those girls before."

He got out of his bed and snuck over to Logan's bed.

"Logan...Logan..." He whispered. "Logan...wake up."

Logan groaned but opened one eye.

"What?" He whispered.

"Can't sleep, got a lot on my mind." Flim said.

"Can't it wait till morning? I'm trying to enjoy my siesta before that horn wakes me up at the crack of dawn?" Logan mumbled.

"Nope. It can't." Flim said.

"Fine! What is it?" Logan whispered. "And make it fast!"

"I really could've sworn we've seen those girls before." Flim said.

"Just get over it and go back to sleep, Flim." Logan grunted. "We've gotta wake up to a noisy horn at the crack of dawn and I've gotta enjoy my sleep while it lasts."

Then, before Flim could say anything, Logan turned over and returned to sleep.

"Maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me." He thought. "All that training has made me crazy."

Flim Flam tucked himself into bed and went back to sleep.

There were some cricket sounds from outside, which Flim hoped could help keep those thoughts at bay.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the swamp, Strickland and Howls had been dragged to the dead end of the cave by the one eyed stump monster. There, the monster dropped the two in front of some sort of pedestal with a crystal ball on top of it.

Both of them were shocked by the horrific look on the monster's face as it glared at them.

"Aaahhh!" They screamed.

"What is this? What's going on?!" Howls demanded. "Is this one of those hidden camera reality prank shows? Cause this ain't funny!"

"Yeah!" Strickland added. "What do you think you're doing?"

"This is no trick, Lou Strickland." said the monster in the crystal ball. "I all but truly real."

"How do you know my name, you creep? Who are you?!" Strickland shouted.

"I am Revolta, the most sinister demon witch in all the land and I have an opportunity you cannot refuse." said the she-monster.

"What kind of opportunity?" asked Howls.

"And what do you mean 'cannot refuse'?" Strickland added.

"It's quite simple." Revolta said. "As you can see, I'm trapped in this crystal ball and need to get out. Set me free and you'll have anything you want."

"Wait. How do I know you're not a fake monster?" Strickland raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"I see everything that happens in the mortal world." Revolta hollered. "I know of your attempt to blackmail that no-good, sorry excuse of a witch Miss Grimwood, and suffice to say, I was a mild bit impressed."

"That's American news for ya." Howls said. "So what do you want us for?"

"I have a proposal..." Revolta began before smiling evilly and added, "...that will certainly guarantee great fortune for us all!"

Strickland arched his eyebrows. "What's the proposal?"

"It's quite simple really..." Revolta said. "I need to get out of this crystal ball and you two want to exploit Grimwood, so here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Looks like Revolta has come into the picture. It looks like she's found a couple of stooges in Lou Strickland and Heather Jasper Howls (both figuratively and literally) and how will the Calloway Cadets play in this evil scheme. This is where the plot thickens.**

 **Also, check out the new Boondocks series I made.**


	13. The Turning Point in the Story

The next morning, the cadets were up at the crack-a-dawn as usual.

"Ugh..." They groaned as they heard the fanfare trumpet.

"Why can't we just wake up when it's already bright and sunny?" Jamal mumbled.

"I guess that's military training for ya." Baxter remarked.

"Tell me about it." Grunt agreed.

"Come on guys, let's get dressed." Tug groaned.

The others murmured and groaned as they reluctantly dragged themselves out of bed.

They all brushed their teeth, washed their faces, put on their uniforms and lined up just in time for Calloway to arrive.

"Outside, maggots!" Calloway shouted.

"Sir!" The boys saluted.

Swiftly, the boys made their way outside the academy and were all lined up.

"Alright private's, roll call!" Calloway shouted. "Tug..."

"Here." Tug saluted.

"Jamal..." Calloway continued.

"Here." Jamal saluted.

"Miguel..." Calloway continued.

"Aqui!" Miguel saluted.

"What was that?" Calloway turned around.

"Here." Miguel clarified.

"That's what I thought..." said the colonel. "Tug!"

"Uh...present, sir!" Tug saluted.

"Pierre!" Calloway continued.

"Here sir!" Pierre saluted.

"Logan..." Calloway looked at his list.

"Here!" Logan saluted.

"Flim Flam!" Calloway finished.

"Here!" Flim Flam saluted.

"Good." Calloway nodded as he put the list away. "All present. Now for your morning warm-up routines."

The boys stiffened as the colonel walked down the line.

"We're going to start with fifteen laps around the academy." He said. "Ready, set, go!"

The boys started racing around the building.

"Oh boy..." Flim remarked to himself as he tried to keep up with the endurance that came with the running.

As soon as the laps were done, the boys started to catch their breath.

"That was good, maggots." said Calloway. "Now drop down and give me thirty! RIGHT NOW!"

"Sir!" The boys shouted.

The boys dropped down and started giving push ups.

As soon as the boys completed their push ups, they were all sweating and panting.

"At ease, soldiers." Calloway said. "Just one more exercise and report to the mess hall for breakfast."

"Please say it's gonna be a relaxing nap..." Logan mumbled.

"Run through that obstacle course in record time!" Calloway barked as pointed at a very complicated obstacle course.

"Record time?" Miguel gulped. "What's that?"

"Thirty seconds, maggot!" Calloway snapped. "Now get going!"

"Sir!" The boys saluted.

The colonel then blew his whistle, and the boys immediately took off.

As the boys climbed up a huge rock wall, Flim Flam saw Strickland and Howls passing by once again.

He almost fell off the rock wall in shock, and Logan was quick to notice the look of disbelief on Flim's face.

"Hey Flim! What's going on?" He asked his best friend. "We've gotta complete his course if we want a meal."

"Uh..." Flim stuttered.

"Flim, what's wrong?" Logan asked.

"I think I just Strickland and that news reporter lady pass by the school." Flim replied as he started to run through the tire portion of the course.

"Strickland and that reporter lady?" Logan asked. "That's impossible!"

"I know what I saw, buddy." Flim Flam said as they walked on a balance beam. "They're back and I think they're headed back to that girl school."

"Maybe it's just your eyes playing tricks on you." Logan said. "Now come on! We've gotta finish this course if we want to eat!"

Flim nodded, though there were shadows forming under his eyelids.

The boys continued running through the obstacle course until they finally reached the end.

"29 seconds!" Calloway exclaimed as he hit the stop button on the stopwatch. "You all earned your breakfast, maggots!"

"Thank you, Sir." said the cadets.

The boys all walked to the mess hall for their well deserved breakfast.

As they marched towards the mess hall, Flim looked around.

"I knew I saw them, I just know I did." He thought.

"Hey Flim, you coming?" Logan asked. "You don't wanna starve, do you?"

"Uh..." Flim said hesitantly. "I'm coming."

He followed the other cadets to the mess hall, where they started to eat breakfast.

"This food could really use a little salt." Tug remarked.

"Here you go, Tug." Miguel handed Tug the salt shaker.

"Thanks Miguel." Tug said as he shook some salt onto his food.

"De nada." Miguel continued eating.

While the other boys were eating, Flim Flam just played with his food.

"Hey Flim, whatcha doing?" Logan tapped on his friend's shoulder. "Aren't you gonna eat? We need our strength."

"Huh?" Flim was distracted by his thoughts.

"You've been awfully distracted." Logan pointed out. "You still bugged out by allegedly seeing Strickland pass by the school?"

"Yeah." Flim Flam nodded. "I just know he's up to something."

"Strickland?" Miguel asked. "Knowing that old goat, when is he never up to something?"

"Yeah, but he also had that lady from the news with him." Flim added. "I think they were heading for that girl school next door."

"What for?" Grunt asked.

"I don't know, but if Stricklands involved, it can't be good." said Flim Flam.

"Well what do you propose we do?" asked Pierre.

"Yeah, what exactly do you suppose we can stop that old goat?" Logan added.

"Guys, we've escaped from an evil orphanage and are currently surviving a military school, we can take down Strickland, no sweat!" Flim Flam boasted. "Compared to that, stopping an old foe and a news anchor is like riding a bike."

"But I don't know how to ride a bike." Pierre pointed out.

"The point is that we need to figure what Strickland is up to and what he and that news anchor lady want with those girls." Flim said. "So, who's with me?"

The rest of the boys shared looks with each other.

"Forget it." Tug said. "You've gotten us into enough trouble as it is."

"Well I'll go." Pierre said. "I left something in that girl school."

"Well, you can count me out as well." Grunt said. "There's no way I intend to follow you into trouble again."

"Well I'm not going." Jamal added. "I ain't getting in trouble with the colonel."

"Well I wanna go!" Baxter raised his hand. "I wanna see more of that freaky food we found in their fridge."

"I'd better go too, so you don't do anything stupid again." Logan deadpanned.

"And I'm out." Miguel finished.

"Alright, then." Flim said. "Then it's settled."

"So, it seems that you, me, Pierre, and Baxter are going." Logan remarked.

"That's what I said." Flim nodded.

"But we cant skip any classes." Pierre said. "The colonel will get mad."

"Don't worry, Pierre old pal!" Flim folded his arms. "As soon as we are done cleaning our room, we can sneak over to the spooky school, see what Strickland is up to, and then make it back here in time before Calloway even knows we're gone!"

"This had better work, because if it doesn't and we get caught, our friendship is over!" Logan sternly said.

"Sure, sure." Flim rolled his eyes.

* * *

Soon after cleaning their room, Flim Flam, Logan, Pierre and Baxter snuck out of the academy and made their way to the ghoul school.

As soon as the four arrived at the ghoul school, they could see that something was up when they saw the door opened.

"It looks like we've arrived in time." said Flim Flam. "Come on!"

The boys walked inside the school to find where Strickland and Howls might be.

Even with the daylight, the inside of the ghoul school looked eerily dark and creepy.

"I swear the place looks rundown with no electricity." Pierre remarked.

"What kind of school doesn't have electricity?" Logan remarked.

"A really crummy one of you ask me." Flim remarked. "Now where's Strickland?"

The boys started to look around, but couldn't find anything.

"We've looked just about everywhere and haven't found Strickland anywhere." Logan said. "Are you sure you saw him coming here?"

"Of course I saw him!" Flim Flam retorted. "We just need to try looking somewhere else!"

"Maybe we should try searching downstairs in that basement?" suggested Pierre.

"No Pierre, that's ridiculous!" said Flim Flam. "But what if we try searching downstairs in that basement?"

"Ain't that something Pierre just suggested?" Baxter rolled his eyes.

"No time for glory hogging, Baxter, we've gotta find out what Strickland is up to!" Flim Flam said. "Now come on!"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I just wanna grab him by his neck and shake him like a doll."

"Don't I know it." Flim nodded, not aware that Logan was referring to him and not Strickland.

The boys went downstairs and heard something.

"Guys listen, I think I see them." Flim whispered. "Look!"

The boys peeked down and saw both Strickland and Howls searching through the basement for something.

"It's them!" Logan whispered.

Indeed it was them. They apparently were searching for something that Revolta told them about.

"It's got to be here somewhere!" Howls said as she rummaged through the old spooky artifacts.

"So what exactly are we looking for again?" Strickland asked Howls.

"Some sort of chest." Howls grumbled.

"Chest?" Film thought. "Sounds kinda suspicious."

"Something tells me this alleged chest could be dangerous." Logan whispered. "Maybe we'd better tell the headmistress."

"Are you crazy? We'll get in trouble with Calloway if someone catches us here. We need a better plan." Flim whispered back.

"Anybody got any bright ideas?" Baxter whispered.

The others paused their lips as they tried to think of something else.

At that same time, Strickland found some sort of purple chest with a scary demon face on it.

"Hey Howls! I think I might have found it!" He said to his cohort.

Howls leaned closer to take a good look at the chest, and she nodded.

"I think this might be it." She said.

"Looks like we are a little too late to stop them." Logan whispered.

"No we are not!" Flim Flam exclaimed. "I'm gonna stop them using one of those other spooky things!"

Flim Flam snuck downstairs to find something

"Flim wait!" Logan whispered. "Come back here! We don't know what those other things do!"

But by this point, Flim was out of earshot and didn't hear Logan's warning.

"Oh, great." Logan grumbled.

Flim searched through the spooky artifacts and found some sort of small, ancient looking pyramid thing.

"This should take care of them!" He thought to himself.

Without thinking, he picked up the pyramid-shaped device. He saw that there was some sort of purple button on it and figured that it could help him. At that same time, the baddies were about to leave with the strange chest.

"Alright, now lets get this back to Revolta." Howls said.

But just as they were about to pick it up, they heard a voice.

"Hey you! Drop that chest!" the voice shouted.

Strickland frowned when he recognized the voice.

"I heard that voice before." He said as he and Howls turned around.

They saw that the voice had come from Flim Flam, who was holding the pyramid shaped thing.

"Hey Strickland!" Flim Flam exclaimed. "Think fast!"

Strickland raised an eyebrow, "What the?"

Flim Flam pressed the button on the pyramid, opening up some sort of swirling purple vortex and suddenly, both Howls and Strickland got sucked into it, leaving the chest behind.

As soon as the portal closed, Logan, Pierre, and Baxter ran downstairs to their friend.

"Holy Toledo!" Logan exclaimed. "Flim Flam, how did you do that?"

"Simple." Flim Flam smirked, then became confused. "I just, uh...uh...I just did it, okay?"

"Okay, but what do you think happened to those guys? Shouldn't we be worried?" asked Pierre. "I mean, we don't know what that pyramid thing did."

Flim looked at the pyramid-shaped object in his hand, which was sizzling with some electricity. "I'm not sure if I wanna know."

"Well anyways, we'd better get outta here before any of those creepy girls spot us." Logan deadpanned.

"Not to mention, it's almost time for class." Baxter added.

Flim nodded. "Then, let's get out of here."

The other boys nodded before they took their leaves, during which Flim put down the device and rushed over to join them.

Little did Flim-Flam realize that at that very moment, he had just did something that was part of the process of unleashing something very sinister, something far worse than what they have ever encountered before.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Looks like we are at the turning point in the story. It seems that Flim Flam's recklessness may have stopped Strickland and Howls from stealing the mysterious chest, but somehow, I think this means more danger! Stay tuned for more!**


	14. The Daemon Ritus

Soon, the boys were back at the academy and were sitting in the classroom.

"...and that's how humpback whales give birth." Calloway finished his lecture. "Alright boys, now open up your books and turn to page 23. There's going to be a quiz."

Some of the boys yawned while a few others quietly groaned.

Flim Flam opened up his book and turned to page 23. He squinted his eyes and tried to read the words on the page.

"Um...uh..." He looked hard at the page.

As he tried to make out the words on the page, he unknowingly began tapping his desk with his pencil.

"I hope you boys are studying this material and understand it well, because the quiz starts now!" Calloway said. "Now put your books away and begin your test."

There were a few groans from the boys as the quiz began.

"You have fifteen minutes." said the colonel. "Now go!"

Calloway turned on his countdown clock and the boys began working on the quiz.

There were a few grumbles as the boys tried to work on the quiz.

Film Flam tried to answer the questions, but no matter hard he tried, he couldn't figure out what they said. Soon enough, fifteen minutes were over and it was time to turn in the papers.

"Alright cadets, time's up!" Calloway looked at his pocket watch. "Time to turn in your quizzes. You will get them back after lunch. Dismiss!"

"Sir!" The boys shouted and saluted.

The boys all turned in their papers and retreated to the mess hall for some food.

"So Flim, how do you think you did on the test?" Logan asked Flim Flam.

"Oh uh, I think I did just great..." the Latino replied nervously, then to himself, he added, "I hope..."

* * *

Meanwhile back over at the ghoul school, Miss. Grimwood was busy cleaning up the basement.

"Now this is weird." She thought. "How did this place get so messy? Must've been that pesky dragon again."

The headmistress frowned as she continued sweeping the basement floor.

As she was putting away some boxes, she saw the strange pyramid thing all sparking.

"What the?" She wondered.

Miss Grimwood knelt down to pick up the pyramid-shaped object, her eyes narrowed as the object continued to produce sparks.

"How did this get open?" She wondered. "And why is it sparking like that? Oh dear. This could be serious."

Swiftly, she made a quick examination of the object before her eyes laid on the chest.

"Oh no!" She gasped.

Miss Grimwood quickly grabbed the pyramid and the chest and ran upstairs to her office to contact someone in her crystal ball.

No sooner did she reach her office did Miss Grimwood reached for the crystal ball and waved her hand on the surface.

Just then, a man's image came up on the ball, "Miss Grimwood? Is that you?"

"Yes Vincent, it's me." Miss. Grimwood said. "I believe we may have a situation here."

"Please elaborate." Vincent said.

Without another word, Miss Grimwood brought the object and the chest into view as she began to explain.

"I was just cleaning the basement and all of a sudden, the pyramid was sparking and open." She explained.

"Oh my," Vincent gulped. "This is more serious than I thought. That pyramid is an epic and ancient artifact of pure evil. Who knows who could have meddled with it?"

"I don't know, but we have to find the person who is responsible for this madness." said Miss. Grimwood. "Otherwise, the whole world is in danger."

"Yes indeed." Vincent nodded grimly.

"But I don't understand how this could've happened!" Miss. Grimwood panicked. "The girls have been in their rooms preparing for the school debutante ball all day and Matches knows better than to touch our artifacts!"

"Well, I'm sure there is a way for us to find out who was responsible for this." Vincent says. "After all, both of our crystal balls are hooked up to look after those deeply dangerous artifacts and can thus see who had tampered with it."

"Let me check my book." Miss. Grimwood as she looked at her book of magic. "Aha! There it is! We can use an Anamnesis Stone to give us a playback of what was going on while I was gone."

"A terrific idea, my fellow prestidigitator." Vincent smiled.

"Good thing I have plenty around here." Miss. Grimwood said.

"Then, let's get to work now, shall we?" Vincent asked.

Miss Grimwood smiled as she got up from her seat and reached into a cabinet.

There, she found a big, orange stone on top of a small pedestal and brought it to Vincent.

"Alright, now lets see the scoundrel responsible for this." said Vincent.

Miss. Grimwood pressed a button on the pedestal and footage of what was happening projected onto the wall.

Both Miss Grimwood and Vincent frowned when they saw Strickland and Howls enter the basement.

The witch gasped. "It's that woman from earlier and some other guy."

After seeing the footage of Strickland and Howls, they then saw Flim Flam holding the strange little pyramid and using it on the two villainous adults and zapping them with it.

Miss Grimwood and Vincent, who was viewing the footage through the crystal ball, only glanced at each other as the footage ended.

"This is terrible!" Vincent said. "That fool does not know what he's meddled with! The universe is now in danger because of him."

"So what do we do?" asked Miss. Grimwood.

"First off, we will need to find that boy, because what he had unleashed can only be undone by him alone." Vincent declared.

"I think I remember seeing him during a volleyball against the Calloway Cadets the other day." said Miss. Grimwood.

"Then you've got to find him and fast!" Vincent said. "There's no time!"

"Of course." Miss Grimwood nodded grimly.

The witch then exited the ghoul school and headed towards the military school.

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere in the supernatural realm, Lou Strickland and Heather Jasper Howls found themselves in quite an usual predicament.

"Yet another fine mess you've dragged me into!" Strickland growled.

"Me?" Howls retorted. "You're were the one that insisted in going into that blasted cave!"

"Well you're the one who wanted that blasted story!" Strickland retorted back.

"I was desperate!" Howls barked.

"Yeah, well now we're stuck in who knows where, and there's no way out of this from what I can see right now!" Strickland grumbled.

Just then, there was another spooky eerie sound in the distance.

"What the?" They turned around.

The strange moaning sound echoed again.

"Oh great, it's that crazy noise again." Strickland rolled his eyes.

"I wonder if that witch in the cave is here." Howls asked.

"Here?" Strickland sneered. "I can't even tell if this place is the creepy cave or not?"

They started to follow the sound and realized that they were in a world filled with strange creatures and monsters.

"What is this place? It looks like something out of a Halloween party." Strickland remarked.

"I'll tell you what it is." said a voice from behind.

Strickland looked around. "Who said that?!"

"I believe that was me." said the voice.

The two villains turned around and saw where the voice came from. It was Revolta.

"Hello boys." She said.

"What?! But how?" Strickland gasped. "You were in that staff ball!"

"Exactly." Revolta grinned. "Because that staff ball is a viewscreen and part of a portal to this supernatural world in which you both are in."

"Well we're sorry to say that we didn't get that chest thing like you said." said Howls.

"No need to apologize, Ms. Howls." Revolta said. "I had a backup plan in case you two somehow ended up in here."

"What backup plan?" asked the two mortals.

"You'll see." Revolta grinned. "Come with me."

The two felons followed the witch to her secret lair, which was a spooky castle.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the human world, the boys were in the rec room chatting and enjoying their break from training and drills.

"What do you think, Flim?" Logan asked. "Do you think we've seen the last of that old goat and his no-good witch of a girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? More like gold digger." Flim Flam rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, gold digger." Pierre chuckled.

"Either way, you think we've seen the last of those two?" Logan asked.

"I hope so." Flim said.

"But somehow, I think we might've done something when we used that pyramid thing." Logan said. "I mean, we don't know what happened to them or what that thing was."

"I'm pretty sure it's nothing." Flim Flam brushed him off.

As Flim made that remark, Pierre happened to be looking out the nearby window and he swallowed.

"I hope you're right, Flim." Pierre says. "Because we're about to have a visitor!"

Flim arched his eyebrows as he and the boys gathered at the window and looked towards where Pierre was pointing at. The boys turned around and saw Colonel Calloway with Miss. Grimwood.

"Ten hut!" He barked.

The boys all lined and up saluted. "Sir!"

Glaring at the boys, the colonel then ordered, "As you were, gentlemen."

"Sir!" The boys exclaimed and sat down.

"Privates, we have a special visitor today." said Calloway. "This is Miss Grimwood from the girl school next door."

"Sir, permission to greet the headmistress, sir!" The cadets shouted.

"Permission granted!" Calloway exclaimed.

"Greetings, Miss. Grimwood." said the boys in unison.

"Greetings boys." Miss. Grimwood waved to the boys.

"So, what brings you here, Miss. Grimwood?" asked the colonel.

"I'm afraid I need to speak with one of your cadets." Miss Grimwood said as she eyed Flim in particular. "Something important."

"Of course, ma'am." said Calloway. "Cadet Garcia! Get up!"

Flim Flam immediately got up from the couch and stood front and center. "Sir!"

"At ease, private." said Calloway "Our visitor apparently has to speak with you about something urgent. You'd better go with her."

"Sir yes sir!" Flim Flam saluted.

With that, Flim turned towards Miss Grimwood while the other boys looked on.

"What's going on?" Tug whispered to Jamal.

"I have no clue." Jamal whispered back.

"So what did you want to see me about, Miss. G?" Flim asked nervously.

"It's about what happened the basement of the ghoul school earlier this afternoon." Miss Grimwood replied.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Flim Flam stuttered. "I was never there..."

"Ah, is that right?" Miss Grimwood placed a hand on her hip before taking out her crystal ball and began to replay the footage. "Perhaps this will help jog your memory."

As the footage was playing, Flim Flam couldn't deny it any longer.

"Oh fine, me and some other cadets broke into your place to stop some guys who were trying to expose you." He admitted. "But what's the big deal? At least I stopped them, right?"

Miss Grimwood sighed. "If it was only that simple..."

"Uh...what do you mean by that, Miss G?" Flim Flam asked, then seeing the urgent look on her face, he added, "What's going on?"

"That pyramid wasn't just some sort of magical object, it was an epic and ancient artifact containing a portal to the netherworld and the key to triggering a great curse." Miss. Grimwood explained.

"Great curse?" Flim Flam raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Miss. Grimwood nodded. "The Daemon Ritus."

"Daemon Ritus? What the heck is that?" asked Flim Flam.

"An artifact of pure evil." Miss Grimwood said. "Once triggered, it will mean destructive consequences for the whole world!"

"Well, how can it possibly destroy the whole world?" asked Flim.

"The curse of the Daemon Ritus, once triggered, summons some of the most powerful demons on the planet." Miss Grimwood said. "Demons that can be freed from the cursed Chest of Demons of which they're bound to."

Flim Flam gulped, "So is there a way to stop this curse and these demons?"

"Yes." Miss Grimwood nodded. "However, only the one responsible for triggering the curse in the first place is capable of stopping it and the demons."

"You mean me?" Flim Flam pointed to himself.

"Yes you." Miss. Grimwood said sternly. "Now come on!"

The witch grabbed Flim's hand and took him to the ghoul school.

* * *

Soon, Flim found himself back in the ghoul school.

"What's going on Miss. G?" He asked.

"You'll see." Miss. Grimwood said as he rubbed her hands on her crystal ball.

Just then, Vincent Van Ghoul's image popped up.

"Aahh!" Flim Flam exclaimed. "Who are you?"

"Ah, I'm glad you're able to join us, young man." Vincent said. "My name is Vincent Van Ghoul, guardian of the portal leading to the supernatural world."

"Holy smokes, are you a real wizard?" Flim Flam asked the wizard.

"Yes I am." Vincent modded. "And Miss. Grimwood over there is an actual witch and those girls who look like little Halloween monsters, are actual monsters."

"Now I've seen everything." Flim Flam remarked.

"But I digress, you may have unintentionally triggered the curse, my dear friend." Vincent said.

"What prompted you to do that anyway?" Miss Grimwood asked.

"Ah, so you see..." Flim scratched his head. "That man and lady that I may have transported to some world...he's the director of the orphanage my friends and I have ran away from while the lady is..."

"A reporter thinking of exposing me to the whole world, which itself will result in certain consequences we'd rather not think about." Miss Grimwood nodded. "But anyways, please continue."

"Well, my friends and I saw them infiltrating the ghoul school and figured we should do something about it, so we snuck in here and I found this tiny pyramid thing, so I assumed it would help me in stopping them." the boy continued. "When I saw them with some sort of scary chest, I had this strange feeling and decided to stop them from taking it. I pressed a button on the pyramid and it sucked them into some sort of swirling purple vortex. My friends and I left so we wouldn't get caught."

Miss Grimwood and Vincent glanced at each other.

"That pyramid is a gateway to the netherworld, where the Daemon Ritus demons reside and if mortals ever get there, it opens up a portal back to the human world and should said portal be left open for so long, Daemon Ritus demons could escape, drain the souls of mortals, and the world will be doomed!" Vincent explained.

"Gee Vince, that sounds awfully bad." Flim Flam stammered.

"It is, and it is something that only the one who triggered the curse released the demons can reverse." Vincent said.

"Namely, you!" Miss. Grimwood poked the young Latino in the stomach.

Flim Flam gulped, "Okay..."

"Good! Now meet me in the woods outside of the school in five minutes." Vincent said.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the netherworld, Revolta took Strickland and Howls to her secret lair.

"So, what is it you wanted to show us?" asked Strickland.

"Here..." Revolta grinned as she stopped. "This is the foundation for my backup plan in case you mortals were to end up here."

She handed them a strange-looking mirror.

"A mirror?" Strickland raised an eyebrow.

"Not just any mirror, this is a mirror that will put those young ghouls under my power and bring that Chest of Demons to me!" Revolta grinned sinisterly.

"But how do you expect us to get back to our world?" Howls asked with skepticism.

"Not to worry." Revolta said. "I can take care of that part."

Revolta picked up the two felons and took them to a portal leading back to the real world.

"This portal leads back to the human world." She said. "It only appears when mortals arrive in this realm."

"Well that's convenient." Howls remarked.

"Now go!" Revolta urged. "I don't have all day waiting for you mortals to implement my plan!"

Revolta pushed her two stooges and sent them back to the ghoul school, ready to carry out her master plan.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Looks like we're at the turning point in the story! Stay tuned for the next chapter, which is also the final chapter, coming really soon!**


	15. Demon Finito, Part One

Strickland and Howls snuck into the ghoul school and put the mirror right into the girls' room.

"This has better work!" Strickland said to his partner.

"I hope so." Howls added. "This witch promised me my big break."

Just then, there were some footsteps coming towards the room.

"Someone's coming!" Strickland gasped.

Panicking, the two felons jumped right out of the window right before Sibella and the girls came inside.

"Say, what's that mirror doing here?" Sibella wondered.

"I don't know, but it's real pretty." Phantasma giggled.

"Yeah, it'll be a good time for us to take a good look at ourselves before the ball." Elsa nodded. "We have to make sure we look our best."

"Easy for you to say, you have reflections." Sibella deadpanned.

"Well, here goes nothing." Winnie said.

The little werewolf walked over to the mirror and looked at herself.

"You know, I still can't believe I have to look all girly for this stupid thing." She pouted. "I'm a beast! Not some sort of fairytale princess!"

Just then, the jewel on the mirror started to glow and it caused Winnie to become frozen in a trance.

"Obey Revolta, you will obey Revolta..." a spooky voice changed in the werewolf's head.

"Obey...Revolta..." Winnie repeated.

"Hey Winnie, you feeling alright?" Elsa asked as she waved her hand in front of her friend's face. "You look like you've seen a ghost. No offense, Phanty."

"That's okay." Phanty giggled. "I would've freaked out if I saw me too."

"Either way." Sibella said as she proceeded to shake Winnie. "Winnie? Are you okay?"

"Obey...Revolta..." Winnie said ominously.

"Lemme take a look at that mirror." said Elsa.

She walked up to the mirror and the jewel started to glow again, putting Elsa in the same trance.

"Obey Revolta..." She said.

With Elsa now in the same trance as Winnie, the other ghouls shared glances with each other.

"I really do not like the sound of that." Tanis said.

"Don't worry, we'll try to do something." Phanty said as she grabbed Tanis' hand.

But as the phantom and mummy tried to get their friends away from the mirror, they got hypnotized too.

"Obey Revolta..." They said ominously.

"Oh no..." Sibella gasped as she watched from behind her bed.

Just then, Revolta appeared on the mirror. "Now my pretties, you will bring me the Chest of Demons into the swamp at once, so I may unleash havoc on the entire world and the Daemon Ritus will be complete."

"Yes my queen..." said the brainwashed ghouls.

Sibella watched as her friends went downstairs, grabbed the chest and headed towards the swamp.

"Oh no! I've got to do something!" She gasped. "I gotta get help!"

She then raced towards Miss Grimwood's office.

"Miss. Grimwood! Miss. Grimwood!" She called to the headmistress.

Unfortunately, Miss. Grimwood wasn't in her office.

"Miss. Grimwood?" She looked around. "Where are you?"

Frantically, the vampire princess searched through the office to see if she can find anything that indicates where the headmistress went.

Just then, she realized something, "The military school! That's probably where she went and if she hasn't, I'll just ask if they've seen her!"

Sibella turned into a bat and flew right over to Calloway's school.

As soon as she arrived at the military school, she saw Flim Flam and Miss Grimwood rushing out of the academy.

She then followed them to wherever they were going.

At that same time, the other Calloway boys were peeking out the window.

"Gee, I wonder where Miss. Grimwood is taking Flim Flam?" Logan wondered.

"And why is there a purple bat right behind them?" Jamal added.

"Either they've discovered a new species of bat, or weird is going on, and we have to find out what?" Tug tapped his cheek in curiosity.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm not sure if we wanna know about it." Miguel remarked.

"Yeah, this could be dangerous." Tug added.

"Still, if Flim Flam is involved, it can't be good." Logan remarked.

"You're telling us." Grunt nodded.

"Then we'd better make sure nothing bad has happened." Miguel pointed out. "Come on, let's follow them and see what they're up to!"

"Okay, but Calloway is gonna be back from his meeting in an hour." Tug sighed. "Forward, soldiers!"

The boys all snuck out of the school and began to follow Miss. Griwmood and Flim Flam. But before they could go any further, they bumped into Sibella in her bat form.

"Aaahhh!" They screamed.

"That purple bat!" Jamal gasped.

"Oh, what is it with these boys?" Sibella thought to herself as she flew upwards to avoid colliding into the boys.

As she flew up, she saw Flim Flam and Miss. Grimwood heading towards the dark, spooky forest and followed them.

"Where are they heading?" Sibella wondered to herself as she followed the duo into the forest.

Little did the little vampire princess notice that she was also being followed by the other cadets.

Soon enough, Flim Flam and Miss. Grimwood arrived at some sort of old castle at the end of the spooky forest.

"Aye chihuahua..." Flim gasped. "That is one big castle."

"Yep." Miss. Grimwood nodded. "That's where Mr. Van Ghoul lives. Now come on, we have to see him."

Flim nodded before he swallowed as they knocked on the door.

Just then, the door opened to reveal Vincent Van Ghoul in all his frightening glory.

"Yikes!" Flim squeaked as he jumped into Miss. Grimwood's arms.

"Miss Grimwood, glad you could make it." Vincent said with a neutral expression.

"Always a pleasure, Vincent." Miss. Grimwood bower courteously.

The warlock then turned towards Flim Flam and added, "You must be anxious to know how to undo the curse you have unintentionally triggered."

"Yes sir..." the boy gulped.

"Then, follow me." Vincent instructed as he motioned them to enter the castle. "We've got no time left."

Miss. Grimwood dropped the boy to ground and he followed the two magic practitioners inside. At that same time, Sibella flew into Vincent's window.

"Gotta find Miss Grimwood." She thought to herself.

While she searched for her mentor, Flim Flam and Miss. Grimwood made it to Vincent's office.

"So how do we reverse this dreadful thing, Mr. Van Ghoul?" asked Flim Flam.

Vincent reached over to a nearby bookshelf and pulled out a thick book.

He flipped through the pages and saw the curse. "Aha! There it is! To undo the Daemon Ritus, the person who triggered it must remove the crystal from the artifact it was contained in. This crystal feeds on souls of mortals and helps release a certain race of demons from the Underworld. Once you get the crystal, you must destroy it, stopping the curse and destroying the demons."

"Sounds really complicated if you ask me." Flim Flam said. "Isn't there an easier way like a magic potion or whatever?"

"No!" Vince sternly said. "This is the only way! You have to remove that crystal before those demons are released and the souls are absorbed."

"Yes sir." Flim nodded.

"Then, let's get to work now, shall we?" Miss Grimwood asked.

But before Mr. Van Ghoul could conjure up a portal to the Underworld, somebody showed up. It was Sibella.

"Miss. Grimwood! Miss. Grimwood!" She chanted.

"Aah!" Flim Flam shouted. "A bat!"

"She's not just any bat." Miss Grimwood said as she recognized the bat.

Sibella then transformed back into a vampire.

"It's Sibella, the vampire princess and daughter of Dracula!" the headmistress finished.

"The one and the same." Sibella placed her hands on her hips and batted her eyelashes.

"Sibella, what are you doing here?" asked Miss. Grimwood. "You're supposed to be getting ready for the ball."

"I was." Sibella said. "But I'm afraid we've got a situation, an urgent one."

"How urgent is it?" asked Vincent.

Sibella wasted no time in explaining how the other ghouls got hypnotized by a strange mirror and wandered off into the woods with a mysterious box.

"Oh no! The Chest of Demons!" Vincent gasped. "If that box is opened, they'll be released and the world will be in twice as much danger!"

"And I thought that the crystal was dangerous already." Flim Flam swallowed.

"Listen Miss. Grimwood, you and Flim Flam need to get that crystal from Revolta!" Vincent said sternly. "Sibella and I will try to get the other ghouls back to normal and retrieve the chest! Hurry! There's not much time!"

"Right." Miss Grimwood nodded before tugging Flim Flam's hand and added, "Come on!"

The two headed towards the forest to track down Strickland and Howls, while Sibella and Vincent ran after the ghouls and the chest. However, just as soon as they got out of the castle, they bumped right into the other cadets, who were about to enter the castle.

"Guys? What's going on here?" asked Flim Flam.

"Oh, we were just wondering what was happening." Tug said.

"Well it seems that I've accidentally triggered some sort of dark apocalypse and those girls at that other school have been brainwashed into stealing some chest containing some demons." Flim Flam replied.

"I told you not to mess with any of those things in the basement." Logan folded his arms.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that those things would contain that kind of power anyways?" Flim Flam rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, we need to keep going." Miss Grimwood stepped in. "The longer we drag this out, the more those felons would have the chance to unleash unspeakable evil."

"Right!" Vincent nodded. "Come on, let's go!"

"But wait! We want to help!" Miguel said.

"Yeah, is there anything we can do?" asked Baxter.

"Just stay safe in your academy, we don't want you boys to end up getting into harms way." Vincent said sternly.

"Yes Mister...whatever your name is." Tug said. "Come on boys, let's go."

While Vincent and Sibella went after the ghouls, while Flim and Miss. Grimwood chased after Strickland and Howls, the only people who could lead them to Revolta.

"It's like everytime I try to get rid of those two adults, they always have a way of coming back and cause trouble." Flim muttered as he and Miss Grimwood followed Strickland and Howls' trail.

After following the trail, the two finally caught up with Strickland and Howls, who were right near the portal back to the Underworld.

"There they are!" Flim Flam whispered as he spotted them.

"Alright." Miss Grimwood nodded. "We're definitely gonna need to sneak up to them if we want to stop them."

"But how?" Flim Flam whispered.

"It's quite simple." Miss. Grimwood winked as she waved her magic wand. "Drackil!"

Just then, an arm made from magic energy emerged from the wand and grabbed both Strickland and Howls.

"Huh?" The two crooked adults exclaimed. "Hey!"

The arm then brought the two felons to our heroes.

Strickland gasped as he saw Flim Flam. "You! I should've known you were behind this!"

"Rotten to see you too, Mr. Strickland!" Flim Flam glared at his old headmaster.

"And we meet again, Ms. Howls." Miss Grimwood narrowed her eyes.

"Look, we don't have time for this, so I'll just cut to the chase." Miss. Grimwood said. "We need you two to get us to the Underworld so we can stop the Daemon Ritus from being unleashed and taking over the world!"

"Why should we help you, old woman?" Strickland sneered.

"I don't expect the two you to help, judging from what I already know about you two from the moment we met." Miss Grimwood smirked.

"However, only you guys can lead us to this Revolta person you're apparently working with." Flim Flam continued.

"Never!" Strickland growled.

"Over my dead body!" Howls barked.

"That can be arranged." Miss. Grimwood smirked.

Noticing the smirk on Flim Flam's face, Strickland and Howls shared glances with each other.

Fast forward to a short while later, Howls and Strickland find their predicament going from bad to worse.

"You just have to open your big mouth." Strickland grumbled to Howls.

They were hanging from a rope and about to be dumped into a giant cauldron filled with monsters and demons.

"Now will you help us?" Flim Flam smirked.

"Never!" Strickland barked.

"Very well then." Miss. Grimwood smirked. "Matches, if you mind..."

Matches started to untie the rope and lowered the two felons further into the vat.

"Asshhh!" They screamed.

"Okay, okay, okay, we'll help! We'll help!" Strickland begged.

"That's what I thought." Miss. Grimwood snapped her fingers and the cauldron vanished into thin air.

"Now then." The witch continued as Strickland and Howls were lowered onto the ground.

Matches then handcuffed them both and put them on leashes.

"Now, lead us to Revolta, please." Miss. Grimwood said politely.

"And make sure it's fast." Flim Flam added.

"Fine!" Strickland grumbled.

Strickland and Howls lead Flim Flam, Miss. Grimwood and Matches to the portal to the Underworld.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Stay tuned for the rest of the chapter coming soon!**


	16. Demon Finito, Part Two

Meanwhile, Vincent and Sibella had been searching all over for the other ghouls.

"Where could those other ghouls be with the chest?" wondered the warlock.

"I have no idea." Sibella said. "But we'd better find them fast or the world is doomed."

Then, the vampire princess looked at Vincent quizzically as she added, "Isn't there some kind of spell we could use to speed things up?"

"Well, there is one, but I haven't exactly tested it yet." Vincent said.

"I think we should take our chances." Sibella remarked. "After all, we are running out of time."

Vincent paused his lips at the remark, then he nodded.

"Alright, but hold on tight!" Vincent said as he grabbed Sibella's hand. "Atuna Bakunin, HI-YAK!"

Just then, there was a huge cloud of blue smoke and it sent both Vincent and Sibella to the other ghouls, who were carrying the chest to the Underworld.

After the smoke cleared, Vincent exclaimed, "It worked!"

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Sibella asked as she pointed at the other ghouls. "Let's go!"

"Thought you'd never ask, dear child." Vincent said.

They headed right towards the ghouls, who were still in a trance.

"Obey Revolta, obey Revolta..." They chanted ominously. "We love Revolta, we cannot resist Revolta. She is our master..."

"Alright." Sibella said once they got close to the ghouls. "Now what do we do?"

"They're in a trance, so we need to find something that can snap them out of it." Vincent said.

"Of course." Sibella nodded before they looked around as she added, "Anything you can think of that can help?"

"Well there is an old strategy that can probably help." Vincent said.

"Is it a spell?" asked Sibella.

"No." Vincent shook his head. "It's called, 'Emotional Connection'."

"Emotional connection? What's that?" asked Sibella.

"You have to try to get into their heads and remind them of who they truly are." the warlock explained. "To snap them out of it, you must tell them to look into their hearts."

Glancing towards the ghouls that were deep in their trances, Sibella asked, "You think it will work, Vince? I mean, they sure seem pretty deep in it."

"Unless you've got a better idea." Vincent replied.

"Well, my daddy has always forced people to listen to them by using his hypnosis powers against their will, but I think your idea might work too." said the vampire princess.

"Then you'd better get to it!" Vincent ordered.

"Right." Sibella said as she glided right towards her friends.

"Must obey Revolta..." They continued ominously chanting.

"Ghouls! Stop!" Sibella blocked their way. "Don't do this!"

"Must obey Revolta..." The ghouls continued, though in their voodoo-like state, they were merely marching towards Sibella and made no effort to go around her.

"Please! You don't want to do this!" She pleaded them. "You're in a trance! You have to wake up! It's me, Sibella!"

"Must...obey..." Winnie was chanting. "...Revolta..."

"You guys aren't yourselves, and when you find out what you just did, you're not gonna forgive yourselves!" Sibella continued to plead.

"We love Revolta...we need Revolta...our lives are meaningless without Revolta..." Tanis continued chanting.

"Please Tanis! Remember who you are!" Sibella grabbed the little mummy's shoulders. "You're not a slave to evil! You're Tanis, the daughter of the Mummy and Winnie's best friend!"

"We...must not...fail Revolta..." Phanty chanted.

"Phanty, you love playing the organ!" Sibella said frantically. "Don't let Revolta stand between you and what you really love the most!"

"Revolta is my master, I love her..." Elsa chanted.

"Elsa, it's me, Sibella, your best friend!" Sibella pleaded. "Remember that one time in home economics when I ran out of tentacles for my stew and you lent me some of yours? Or remember when I tutored you in Hex 101?"

"We hear and obey Revolta..." The ghouls continued.

"Oh no!" Sibella panicked. "What am I going to do? There's gotta be a way to get through to them! There's just gotta..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Strickland and Howls lead Flim Flam, Miss. Grimwood and Matches into the Underworld.

"Holy Toledo..." Flim Flam looked in awe. "So this is what the Underworld looks like."

"Well, don't get too comfortable." Miss Grimwood said sternly. "Don't forget we're here to stop Revolta before she can open up Pandora's Box and unleash unspeakable evil into the world."

Soon enough, they had reached Revolta's castle, where her eyeball plants spotted them.

Inside, Revolta was getting ready to prepare her evil scheme.

"Once those idiots bring me the chest, I'll finally be able to put the Dark Apocalypse Ritual into action and the world will be mine..." She cackled.

Just then, an alarm had gone off.

"Intruders, Revolta! Intruders!" Grim Creeper ran over his mistress.

"What intruders?!" Revolta barked.

"There are intruders outside the castle!" Creeper pointed to the window.

"Huh?" Revolta asked as she looked out the window.

She picked up some binoculars and saw our heroes with her two stooges hog tied.

"Her..." Revolta zoomed in on Miss. Grimwood. "I should have known she'd interfere."

"Well, what do you propose we do, Revolta?" Creeper asked.

"Forget the ritual! Send out the demons now!" Revolta said bluntly.

Creeper gasped. "But Revolta, the demons can't be fully controlled without..."

"Do it, Creeper! That's an order!" Revolta growled.

"Y-y-Yes my queen..." Creeper grinned fearfully.

He walked over to Revolta's table and grabbed a small cage containing some scary monsters.

"Here you are my queen..." Creeper handed Revolta the small cage.

"Perfect." Revolta grinned sinisterly.

She put down the cage and used her four magic hands to make the cage and the demons inside of it grow to the size of tool shed.

"Excellent!" Revolta laughed as the demons inside the cage growled.

She then opened up the door and grinned sinisterly.

"Destroy those intruders outside!" She ordered the demons.

The demons inside hissed and nodded as they were released.

They went right out to the window and landed right in front of our heroes, who were still carrying Strickland and Howls.

Flim Flam looked up and jumped in fright at the sight of the demons screeching towards them.

"Aaahhh!" He screamed.

The demons jumped right towards our heroes, ready to attack them.

* * *

Back in the real world, Sibella had been continuing trying to stop her friends from getting into the Underworld, but to no avail. They were getting closer to the portal by the second.

"Please ghouls, stop! You're being used!" She pleaded them.

As the ghouls continued to march on mindlessly, Vincent was consulting his magic book.

"Try showing them something that might trigger their memories." The warlock suggested. "Put the object right to their foreheads and their memories should be triggered."

Sibella thought for a moment. "And I know just the thing to use!"

She quickly transformed into a bat, flew back to the ghoul school and came back with the trophy they won in the volleyball game.

"Girls, you've gotta see this!" Sibella exclaimed as she transformed back and held the trophy in her hand.

"We obey Revolta..." the ghouls chanted.

"Oh no you don't!" Sibella said. "This is a trophy that we won together and it's a symbol of our friendship, so this should change you back!"

Sibella put the trophy right onto Elsa's forehead and suddenly, her eyes became swirly. After closing her eyes for a few seconds, she was snapped out of her brainwashing.

"Huh? What's going on?" She wondered. "Why am I holding this old trunk?"

"Oh, Elsa, thank goodness you're back!" Sibella smiled as she quickly hugged her friend.

"Back, from where?" asked Elsa.

"I'll explain everything later." said Sibella. "Right now, I need you to put the trophy on the others' forehead."

"Why?" asked Elsa.

"Just do it!" Sibella snapped.

"Okay, okay." Elsa said as she tried to calm the vampire princess down.

First, the two ghouls went to Winnie and placed the trophy on her forehead. The memories jogged her brain and she snapped out of her trance.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" She asked. "What's with the trophy on my head?"

"Oh Winnie, it's so good to have you back to normal!" Sibella hugged Winnie.

"Hey get off of me!" Winnie pushed Sibella off of her. "You know I don't like being hugged."

"Sorry." Elsa chuckled before placing the trophy onto Phanty's head.

"Huh? What are we doing out here?" She wondered as she saw where she was. "I thought we were getting ready for the ball."

"It's a bit of a long story." Sibella said. "But we need to get this chest out of here."

"Chest? What chest?" asked Winnie. "You mean that purple box with the skull-thing on it?"

Winnie pointed to the Chest of Demons.

"Of course I do!" Sibella said, frustrated. "Now come on, we have to..."

She looked down and saw that the chest was gone.

"Where's the chest?" Vincent gasped.

Vincent and the ghouls turned around to see a still-hypnotized Tanis carrying the chest into the Netherworld.

"Obey Revolta..." She chanted as she disappeared into the portal.

"No!" Vincent shouted.

"How did we miss Tanis?" Sibella asked.

"She's so tiny and cute, we can barley notice her." Elsa shrugged.

"Yeah, as cute as a button." Phanty giggled.

"Come on, we have to go after her!" Vincent said.

"Right behind you, Mr. Van Ghoul." Sibella said. "Come along, ghouls!"

Vincent and the ghouls quickly followed Tanis into the portal.

* * *

Meanwhile, Flim Flam and Miss Grimwood were busy dodging the demons that were flying towards them.

"Aaahhh!" Flim shouted as he fled from the demons.

Matches tried to fly away from the demons, but his wings were too small.

"Miss. Grimwood, any idea of how to stop these things?" Flim Flam asked as he ran from the demons.

Miss Grimwood narrowed her eyes as she looked at the demons chasing them.

"The only way to stop them is to get them into the sunlight!" She said as she tried to fend herself off. "But it's not daytime in the Underworld or back home! Besides, there is no sun in this world!"

Flim Flam frowned before asking, "Isn't there a spell for you to conjure up a sun here?"

"Sorry, but I haven't mastered that yet." Miss. Grimwood said. "But maybe we can try that. It's our only hope."

"I sure hope it works." Flim Flam said as they turned and faced the demons.

"Okay, here goes nothing..." said Miss. Grimwood.

But before she could do anything, she saw the hypnotized Tanis carrying the Chest of Demons into the castle.

"Obey Revolta..." She chanted ominously.

"Tanis?" She raised an eyebrow. "I thought she was de hypnotized."

It was then that Vincent and the other ghouls showed up and were chasing after Tanis.

"Quick! We have to catch up to her!" Vincent said. "We can't let Revolta get that chest!"

"No worries, Mr. V, I am the fastest runner in the whole ghoul school! I can get her!" Winnie boasted.

"Then, hurry!" Vincent urged.

As that was happening, Flim Flam saw the demons fast approaching them and tugged Miss Grimwood.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Miss Grimwood?" He asked.

Miss. Grimwood snapped. "Oh right! The demons!"

"Hurry!" Flim Flam screamed as a demon grabbed him.

Miss. Grimwood put on sunglasses and took out her wand.

"Shut your eyes, boys!" She exclaimed.

Flim Flam and Matches shut their eyes real tight as the witch waved her wand.

"Illuminati!" She shouted.

Just then, a bright light emerged from her wand and flashed the entire section, causing the demons to disintegrate into dust.

The blinding flash of light was accompanied by screeches from the demons as they were disintegrated into dust, and for a while, nobody moved a muscle.

"Wow, I didn't think that would actually work." Miss. Grimwood remarked.

At that same time, Tanis stopped moving and was frozen in a daze. After a few moments, she shook her head and looked at her surroundings.

"Huh? Wh-Where am I?" She wondered. "What's going on?"

"Tanis!" Winnie shouted.

She ran up to her best friend and gave her a big hug.

"You're back! You're back!" Winnie licked the cute mummy.

"Back? From where?" asked Tanis.

But before she could get an answer, somebody snatched the Chest of Demons. It was the evil Lou Strickland.

"Aha! I got it!" He laughed manically. "So long suckers!"

He and Howls ran into Revolta's castle with the chest.

"The chest!" Vincent gasped. "After them!"

Our heroes ran into the castle after the two crooked adults.

* * *

Inside the castle, the two adults were running down the hallway with the Chest in hand.

Flim Flam, Vincent, Miss Grimwood and the ghouls chased them down the hall from door to door until they finally reached Revolta's evil chamber.

"Here you are Ms. Revolta!" Strickland handed her the Chest of Demons. "That chest thing you wanted."'

"Excellent." Revolta grinned.

"Now where's our reward?" Howls demanded.

"Not so fast!" Revolta barked. "I have to open the chest first."

"Yeah, she has her priorities." said Grim Creeper.

At that same time, our heroes were eavesdropping from behind.

"Oh no! We're too late!" Miss. Grimwood gasped.

"Not yet, we aren't!" Flim Flam said boldly. "Phanty, fly me to them!"

"Huh?" Phanty raised an eyebrow.

"Just do it!" Flim growled.

"If you say so." Phanty picked up the Latino boy and flew right him behind the four felons.

"At last, the Chest of Demons is mine..." Revolta cackled as she started to open the box.

"Now!" Flim Flam exclaimed.

Phanty flew Flim Flam right to the villains and he pushed Revolta, Strickland, Howls and the Grim Creeper into the chest before any demons could escape. She then quickly shut the chest tight as soon as the crooked adults fell inside the box.

There was some stunned silence as pounding can be heard from within the chest.

"They're gone." Elsa gasped.

"Holy cow." Winnie added.

"Is it..." Flim asked hesitatingly as he turned towards Vincent and Miss Grimwood. "...over?"

"It would seem that way, yes." Vincent nodded. "Come, we must get back home before the portal closes."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Looks like the adults are finished off! But can our heroes get back home before the portal closes?**


	17. Epilogue

To make a long story short, our heroes all made it back home in no time at all.

"Wow kid, for a human, you certainly showed those punks who's boss!" Winnie playfully punched Flim's arm.

"Yes, you were fang-tastic." Sibella wrapped her arms around Flim Flam and batted her eyelashes.

"Oh, I just wanted to end this once and for all, especially with that crooked director of my old orphanage being involved and all." Flim waved a hand.

"Don't settle yourself short, Flim." Elsa said. "You're a hero."

"Nah, anybody could've done it..." Flim Flam blushed. "I'm no hero."

"Well you are to us." Phanty giggled.

"Come here you." Sibella said flirtatiously.

The ghouls tackled Flim Flam and started covering his face with kisses.

"Ah, shucks!" Flim blushed.

"Um ghouls, I hate to interrupt this love fest, but we've still got a debutante ball to do." said Miss. Grimwood.

"Oh right." Elsa said. "I forgot about that."

"I really wish you'd didn't remind us." Winnie deadpanned.

"You know, it's not really gonna be much of a party with just the seven of us." Sibella said. "Sure wish we had more company."

It was then that Flim Flam got an idea.

"Hey! Miss. Grimwood! Excuse me..." He tugged on her dress.

"What is it Flim-Flam?" She asked the boy.

Flim Flam whispered into her ear what he was thinking.

"Why that's a splendid idea!" Miss. Grimwood smiled.

* * *

In no time at all, the Grimwood Ghouls and the Calloway Cadets were in the ghoul school dancing the night away.

"Wow, you're pretty light on your feet for a big guy." Elsa said as she and Tug danced.

"Thanks, I'm dieting." Tug chuckled.

"I'm sure you are." Elsa smiled.

While the other guys were dancing with the girls, Flim Flam was sitting on a chair talking with Logan and Pierre.

"Thanks for getting us invited to this party, Flim Flam." said Pierre. "It's really fun."

"For once, you did something right." Logan added.

"No problem guys, it was the least I could do." Flim Flam said, before sighing. "I just wanted to make things right. What I'm trying to say is, thanks for being such good friends."

"Of course, we're a team." Pierre smiled.

"Even after all the mean things I've said and how badly I treated you?" Flim asked. "I'm really sorry about that..."

"Well, all is forgiven now, especially with that old goat and his gold-digging girlfriend gone for good." Logan said as he patted Flim in the back. "Once again, thanks to you as well."

"Thanks, you guys are great." Flim Flam put his arms around his two best friends' shoulders. "But you know what I feel right now? Somehow, I think something big and I'm talking HUGE could be just right around the corner."

Flim Flam was right kids, something big was just around the corner. But that's an adventure for another day.

 **THE END!**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well folks, looks like another story has come to an end! But get ready for the next Meddling Kids episode, "Attack of the Blue Scarab" coming soon!**


End file.
